Blackboard Inc. is an educational technology company with corporate headquarters in Washington, D.C.. It is known for its Blackboard Learn learning management system. The company's CEO is Jay Bhatt, who has led Blackboard since October 2012. The firm provides education, mobile, communication, and commerce software and related services to clients including education providers, corporations and government organizations. The software consists of seven platforms called Learn, Transact, Engage, Connect, Mobile, Collaborate and Analytics that are offered as bundled software. The firm was founded by Michael Chasen, Matthew Pittinsky, Stephen Gilfus and Daniel Cane in 1997, and became a public company in 2004. It operated publicly until it was purchased by Providence Equity Partners in 2011. As of January 2014
International Business Machines Corporation is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation, with headquarters in Armonk, New York. IBM manufactures and markets computer hardware, middleware and software, and offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology. The company originated in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company through a merger of the Tabulating Machine Company, the International Time Recording Company, and the Computing Scale Company.