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 Embanet and Centrinity: A Unique
Partnership for Online Training
"For affordability and most importantly for ease of use ... there's not a comparable platform in the market that even comes close to FirstClass." - Jeffrey Feldberg, CEO, Embanet Corporation
Organization: Embanet Corporation
Industry: Online Training
Application: Online course delivery for 350,000 enrollments and 30,000 course offerings for over 350 organizations
Results:
scalability: more than 21,000 users on a single server
customization: the ability to design distinct online environments and provide unique domain names for each of their customers
reliability: provide customers with a secure environment and guaranteed uptime and availability
low total cost of ownership
About Embanet
Embanet Corporation is a leading application service provider (ASP) delivering online training and course delivery. Embanet's turn key services includes course conversion and development, hosting of courses, live 24x7 technical support, and eLearning training.
 Embanet supports more than 350 organizations, and will deliver over 30,000 courses with close to 350,000 enrollments. Their impressive customer list includes the University of Texas at Dallas, The Joseph Rotman School of Management, KIT eLearning, the University of Toronto, and many more.
The Communications Challenge
As graduate students in 1993, Jeffrey Feldberg and Waleuska Lazo, the founders and owners of Embanet Corporation, were frustrated with the way their educational programs were being delivered. "Access to faculty was difficult, and the ability to work collectively with other team members was next to impossible" says Feldberg.
Consequently, Feldberg and Lazo began to look for a solution that would allow them to do more in less time and, most importantly, would enable them to work and learn collectively with others without having to physically meet. "During my MBA studies, I did a fair amount of research to find a software system that allowed groups of people to work together in a virtual space," says Feldberg.
Not only did they require a solution that gave users flexibility in accessing course curriculum and resources, but they needed a tool that would support an ever-growing population of users, and would provide a cost-effective application as they continued to grow and build on the system.
The FirstClass Solution
After researching and trying various tools they quickly realized that such tools were either too complex or too expensive. However, after much trial and error, Feldberg discovered a groupware solution was easy to use and perfect for fostering collaboration at a distance. "It was a momentous occassion when I discovered FirstClass," says Feldberg.
 Feldberg and Lazo began perfecting their use of FirstClass for online training, which now forms a key component of Embanet's eLearning services. Embanet's founders beta tested the concept of collaborating online with FirstClass from 1993 to 1995, at the Rotman School of Business, University of Toronto. Upon their graduation, they founded Embanet Corporation and have since been providing online learning services to colleges, universities, corporations and associations worldwide.
FirstClass was an ideal solution for the entrepreneurs as they were beginning to build their business. Flexibility, cost-effectiveness and simplicity were essential. "For affordability and, most importantly, for ease of use ... there's not a comparable platform in the market that even comes close to FirstClass," explains Feldberg.
And as Embanet's customer list and service offerings continued to grow, FirstClass continued to grow with them. "Compared to other technologies in the marketplace, FirstClass stands head and shoulders above the rest from a performance and scalability standpoint. With over 300 organizations utilizing Embanet's services, our cost of ownership is managed nicely with FirstClass," says Feldberg. "We do not have nearly the number of servers or staff that other software packages require. When we explored the marketplace for other platforms, the technical people at the competitors' companies could not believe the scalability and volume we are able to achieve with FirstClass." In organizations where doing more with less is critical to staying competitive, the scalability of FirstClass translates into substatial savings.
In addition to offering FirstClass as an online training infrastructure to hundreds of organizations, Lazo explains that Embanet "also enhances the FirstClass system with classroom tools, such as an attendance tracker, grade book, and online testing features, and provides efficient and cost-effective access to journal abstracts, full-length articles and case studies from Harvard Business School."
 Centrinity's FirstClass technology enables Embanet to meet the demands of the marketplace with a robust and reliable solution. "This past year we logged a 99.8% scheduled uptime for our FirstClass servers, including scheduled maintenance time," explains Feldberg. "We know all to well that if we are down, our clients are losing money."
Embanet not only delivers services to their customers using FirstClass, but it is also the platform for the corporation's intranet environment. FirstClass enables Embanet staff to collaborate on projects asynchronously, gives them a secure environment, and serves as an excellent solution for storing information and sharing knowledge.
Recent market surveys indicate that collaborative applications are increasingly being outsourced to ASPs. According to International Data Corporation (IDC), FirstClass is a recognized worldwide leader in the collaborative applications market and a powerful, highly customizable, proven ASP platform. ASPs can use FirstClass right out of the box, or integrate other applications and databases using the included Rapid Application Developer (RAD) tool to create customized solutions. FirstClass's reliability, scalability and multi-tentant capability provide ASPs with the means to generate a substantial return on investment while allowing them to easily meet Service Level Agreements. FirstClass continues to be an integral part of Embanet's core services, providing organizations with an efficient, cost-effective collaborative communications
vehicle, customized to their requirements.
To experience the power of FirstClass, call 1.888.808.0388 to arrange for a demo.
 © 2002 Centrinity Inc. All rights reserved. FirstClass is a registered trademark of a Centrinity Inc. subsidiary used under license. Centrinity and the Centrinity and FirstClass logos are trademarks of Centrinity Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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