Bloomsbury Consortium Turns to Blackboard to Host e-Learning Platform for Four Institutions

Bloomsbury Consortium Turns to Blackboard to Host e-Learning Platform for Four Institutions

WASHINGTON, DC, September 19, 2006 – Blackboard Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBB), a leading provider of enterprise software and services to the education industry, today announces that the Bloomsbury Consortium (UK) has selected Blackboard’s ASP (application service provider) Services to host learning services across four institutions of the University of London. The Bloomsbury Consortium promotes collaboration, shared services and co-operation to improve educational outcomes and manage cost.

The four institutions which will have their Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) hosted by Blackboard, all use the Blackboard Academic Suiteâ„¢. Through this new hosting agreement, the VLE of these institutions will be housed in a state-of-the art facility equipped with advanced tier 1 infrastructure and 24×7x365 support. This partnership will provide unparalleled security, greater financial flexibility and greater operational freedom for faculty and administration of these institutions. Partnering with Blackboard ASP Services will give the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), The Royal Veterinary College, The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and The Institute of Education the time and flexibility to focus on core education initiatives.

Mandy Bentham, Head of Learning and Teaching Strategy, SOAS, and lead for the Bloomsbury Consortium, says: “The move to hosting in Blackboard’s European data centre will allow us to concentrate our time and resources on developing collaboration across the Consortium in the areas of pedagogic good practice, multimedia development and staff and student support, confident in the knowledge that our platform is robust and secure.”

In addition to the Bloomsbury Consortium, several other European and U.S. academic institutions have also signed up to have their virtual learning platforms hosted by Blackboard, including University of the Arts, London, Pole Universitaire Leonard De Vinci, University of Derby, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Emerge Consortium, Amersham & Wycombe College, the Colorado Community College System, North Idaho College and the University of Southern Mississippi, among others.

“We are delighted to partner with the Bloomsbury Consortium to maximize the effectiveness of its campus operations with Blackboard. Blackboard products and services will help model future ways of learning both locally and globally,” said Michael Chasen, president and chief executive officer of Blackboard.
Blackboard is a leading supplier of enterprise e-learning solutions for colleges, universities and schools around the world. More than 3,650 institutions currently license Blackboard® software products and services, hundreds of which are located throughout the United Kingdom.

About Blackboard Inc.

Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) is a leading provider of enterprise software applications and related services to the education industry. Founded in 1997, Blackboard solutions enable educational innovations everywhere by connecting people and technology. With two product suites, the Blackboard Academic Suite â„¢ and the Blackboard Commerce Suite â„¢, Blackboard applications are used by millions of people at academic institutions around the globe, including colleges, universities, K-12 schools and other education providers, as well as textbook publishers and student-focused merchants that serve education providers and their students. Blackboard is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia.

Blackboard’s UK customers include the universities of Durham, Cambridge, York, Dundee, Kingston, Derby, Bournemouth and Sheffield Hallam and amongst FE colleges using Blackboard solutions are City of Sunderland, Guildford, Brooklands and Newcastle colleges.

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Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects for Blackboard and other statements containing the words “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” “will,” and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including the factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” section of our Form 10-Q filed on August 9, 2006 with the SEC. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company’s views as of September 19, 2006. The Company anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause the Company’s views to change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views as of any date subsequent to September19, 2006.