Author: Hope

PHOENIX, Jan. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Having already transformed into North America’s leading education technology company, Trox + Tierney will continue to grow in the education markets under the new brand of Bluum beginning today. The higher calling of ensuring every student has access to a world-class education remains the company’s mission.

The April 2021 Trox and Tierney merger resulted in a technology solutions provider with a robust suite of technology products and services, AV design and integration, and professional development for educators. Many of Bluum’s 775 employees stem from education, providing first-hand experience and unrivaled knowledge to their former colleagues.

“Our company’s growth has occurred through mergers and acquisitions, as well as organically, more than tripling our revenue over the past three years,” Bluum CEO Erez Pikar said. “We are united under one aspirational brand and a vision of creating equity and access in education. All of our employees equally share in this identity, which aligns with our mission, objectives and pursuit of continued growth.”

Recently named to the top half of the 2021 Inc. 5000 List of “America’s Fastest-Growing Companies” and one of the “Top 10 Integrators” by Systems Contractor News, Bluum is rooted in the belief that education is the single most vital step toward a more positive and equitable tomorrow. The wonder of learning and the benevolence behind increasing student engagement heavily influenced Bluum’s new logo and design.

“The inspiration for our brand name came from Bloom’s Taxonomy, a fundamental philosophy in every educator’s toolkit,” Vice President of Marketing and Communications Diane Mitchell said. “The act of ‘blooming’ signals a moment of transformation when the right set of people, resources and knowledge come together to create something greater than the sum of its parts. Technology is only the beginning. Our level of care and involvement with every customer sets us apart in making an impact on the user and the outcome.”

Today’s announcement is the first step in a phased rebrand, which includes the launch of a new e-Commerce site this spring. While the Bluum brand will serve its education customers, the company also introduced the Bluum Technology brand to continue to develop its existing business and government customer base.

For more information on the new brand, visit bluum.com and bluumtech.com.

About Bluum

Bluum empowers educators with technology solutions that improve learning and make it more accessible, assisting more than 26 million students grow and flourish. Cultivate possibility with us at bluum.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

Contact your dedicated Account Manager:

Sarah Goncalves
South Region Inside Sales RVP
888-226-5727 x3730
sgoncalves@trox.com

Continue working with your dedicated Account Manager as we get more information on the latest updates from bluum.

Burnsville, MN – January 14, 2022 – Mackin, a leading provider of print and digital fiction and nonfiction books for PK-12, is pleased to announce it is a multi-year honoree, winning another Platinum Award in LibraryWorks’ eighth annual Modern Library Awards (MLAs). The MLAs were created to recognize the top products and services in the library industry.

Products and services were submitted in the fall using a simple application and then were posted on a private site with an enhanced description and attendant materials. These products were batched into small groups and sent to the LibraryWorks database of more than 80,000 librarians in public, K-12, academic, and special libraries. Only customers with experience with these products/services in their facilities were permitted to judge the products/services, resulting in a truly unbiased score.

Each judge scored the product from 1-10 on a series of questions regarding functionality, value, customer service, etc. MackinVIA received a remarkable score of 9.8, resulting in their sixth Platinum Award from this prestigious organization. “Since its inception over a decade ago, MackinVIA has made great progress becoming the preferred digital content management system in schools around the world and has continued its technological growth to remain one of the world’s top choices. As a company, Mackin has always been known for their ingenuity and superior customer service. It’s no surprise that these motivating forces helped MackinVIA to be recognized and validated again,” remarked Troy Mikell, Director of Marketing and Communications at Mackin.

MackinVIA is a free digital content management system that provides more than 9 million students, around the world, with access to more than 3 million eBook titles, read-alongs, audiobooks, databases, and video resources. Jenny Newman, publisher and MLA program manager, said, “It’s easy to understand how MackinVIA scored so well. They’ve been continually breaking barriers and have remained at the forefront of the industry since their company entered the market nearly 40 years ago.”

About Mackin

For nearly 40 years, Mackin has provided library and classroom materials for grades PK-12. Known the world over for exemplary service and stringent attention to detail, Mackin has access to more than 18,000 publishers and a collection of over 3 million printed titles. Additionally, Mackin features a robust selection of more than 3 million eBook titles, read-alongs, audiobooks, databases, and video resources available through their free, state-of-the-art digital content management system, MackinVIA. For more information, visit www.mackin.com or call 800-245-9540.

About LibraryWorks

LibraryWorks helps administrators to make informed decisions about library technology, automation and software, collection development and management, facilities and furnishings, staffing, purchasing, and other areas that drive effective strategic planning and day-to-day operations. Our family of resources can enable you to identify best practices, monitor trends, evaluate new products and services, apply for grants and funding, post or find a job, and even enjoy some library humor. https://www.libraryworks.com/

About the Modern Library Awards program

The Modern Library Awards (MLAs) is a review program designed to recognize elite products and services in the market, which can help library management personnel, enhance the quality of experience for the library user, and increase the performance of their library systems. https://www.modernlibraryawards.com/

Click here to see the full press release.

Contact your dedicated Account Manager:

Grace Mundt
Bids Manager
800-245-9540
bids@mackin.com

Learn More About Mackin Educational Resources

Austin, Texas – January 11, 2022 — Lightspeed Systems (“Lightspeed”), a trusted partner in learning safety and effectiveness, today announced that it has acquired the ENA affiliate CatchOn, Inc. (“CatchOn”). CatchOn is a leading provider of learning analytics for schools, and with this acquisition, Lightspeed accelerates its mission of providing purpose-driven technology that fosters safe and effective learning solutions for K-12 students across a growing network of more than 32,000 schools. Lightspeed has completed this transaction with the continued investment support of funds affiliated with Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC (“MDP”), a leading private equity firm based in Chicago. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2016, CatchOn is a real-time data analytics provider that captures and shares insights on technology usage, data privacy, and student engagement to create more efficient and student-focused educational strategies. CatchOn empowers administrators to make data-informed decisions about students’ technology engagement and investment that enhance learning outcomes and enable higher quality learning experiences for all students. Combining Lightspeed’s market-leading online safety ecosystem with CatchOn’s pioneering data analytics tools creates an unparalleled, comprehensive suite of learning solutions tailored to meet the evolving needs of educators and their students.

“We are thrilled to welcome CatchOn to the Lightspeed community,” said Brian Thomas, President & CEO of Lightspeed Systems. “Investment in education technology has never been higher or more critical, as administrators strive to better understand the technologies they are implementing, analyze outcomes and maximize the positive impact educators are having on students’ lives. CatchOn’s innovative data analytics tools are highly complementary to Lightspeed’s web-filtering, analytics, and online monitoring solutions. Together, we will have the technologies, capabilities, and team required to accelerate our mission of keeping students safe, and learning equitable and effective.”

Jena Draper, Founder of CatchOn, added: “Since 2016, CatchOn has been empowering education leaders to measure the effectiveness and usage of their online software application investments. In Lightspeed, we are confident that we have found the right home for our data analytics tool. With Lightspeed’s leadership in online safety monitoring and highly complementary capabilities, our combined company is well-positioned to become an even stronger partner for a growing network of educators.”

Michael McKerley, President of ENA, said: “We are proud of the work we have done with CatchOn since 2018. With its proven technology, stellar team and strong momentum, CatchOn is poised for a bright future with Lightspeed. We are confident CatchOn customers will benefit from the enhanced services the combination of Lightspeed and CatchOn will provide, and we wish the entire CatchOn team nothing but the best as they enter their next phase of growth.”

With the support of MDP, Lightspeed continues to expand its presence in the growing domestic and international K-12 web-filtering and reporting, analytics, mobile device management and classroom management market. In 2021, the Lightspeed product team launched several innovative tools, including the Lightspeed Parent Portal™ and Lightspeed Alert™ with 24/7/365 human review.

William Blair & Company served as Lightspeed’s financial advisor and Alston & Bird provided legal counsel. Evercore served as CatchOn’s financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis and Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP provided legal counsel.

About Lightspeed Systems^®

With over 20 years of providing technology to meet the needs of schools, Lightspeed Systems® is the market leader in online student safety and effectiveness. The purpose-built Lightspeed ecosystem of cloud-based solutions—tailored to meet today’s evolving challenges—provides schools worldwide with the most effective web filter, student safety monitor, classroom management software, device management tool, and analytics program available. Lightspeed Systems is a proven partner for schools, serving over 20 million students in 39 countries and 32,000 schools globally. To learn more, visit www.lightspeedsystems.com.

About CatchOn

CatchOn is a comprehensive data analytics tool that enables K-12 leaders to quickly and effectively calculate their return on investment of their digital tools, track student engagement at the district, school, course, and/or student level, and strengthen their data privacy compliance efforts. For more information, please visit https://www.catchon.com/, call 866-615-1101, or email solutions@catchon.com.

About Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC

Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC (“MDP”) is a leading private equity investment firm based in Chicago. Since MDP’s formation in 1992, the firm has raised aggregate capital of over $28 billion and has completed over 150 investments. MDP invests across five dedicated industry verticals, including basic industries; business and government software and services; financial and transaction services; health care; and telecom, media and technology services. For more information, please visit www.mdcp.com.

About ENA

ENA, a ZMC portfolio company, delivers transformative technology solutions supported by exceptional customer care. Since 1996, we have worked with our customers to design and engineer high-capacity and future-ready connectivity, communication, cloud, security, and data analytics solutions. For more information, please visit www.ena.com, call 866-615-1101, or e-mail info@ena.com.

Click here to see the full press release.

Contact your dedicated Account Manager

Caitlyn Brown
Customer Success Manager
615-312-6149
cbrown@catchon.com

Learn More About CatchOn

CARY, N.C.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Dude Solutions, a SaaS provider of cloud-based operations management solutions backed by Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. (together with its affiliates, “Clearlake”), today announced it has acquired Energy Profiles Limited (“EPL”), a software provider enabling Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) optimization for customer facilities. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Based in Toronto, Canada, EPL delivers data-driven energy and sustainability data management and ESG reporting and predictive analytics to owners and managers of more than 6,000 buildings. The company’s cloud-based software platforms, Stream® Utility Tracker and Building Intelligence® combine an understanding of building operations and the commercial real estate industry with technology that drives performance, improves efficiency, and advances sustainable operations.

The acquisition of EPL will expand Dude Solutions’ Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) capabilities to address enterprise-level energy and sustainability management. Going forward, Dude Solutions will be able to offer EAM, Strategic Asset Management (SAM), and Energy Management Systems (EMS) from a single source. EPL’s expertise will also allow Dude Solutions to develop new sustainability-focused product strategies in enterprise and strategic asset management that are in demand globally. Additionally, EPL’s Building Intelligence® platform will further the company’s reach into the Commercial Real Estate (CRE) market by broadening Dude Solution’s smart building connectivity capabilities.

“As global organizations seek improved ways to measure and achieve progress against ESG criteria, the acquisition of Energy Profiles Limited supports our mission to help our clients better address their sustainability and environmental goals,” said Kevin Kemmerer, Chief Executive Officer at Dude Solutions. “The $1.2 trillion U.S. infrastructure bill that was recently signed into law earmarks significant resources for climate-related and sustainability initiatives, marking an inflection point for our clients and their communities. EPL’s experience in tracking and reporting ESG metrics adds critical capabilities that organizations across all industries and regions need to build sustainable communities.”

Neal Bach, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of EPL, said, “As the demand for energy and sustainability management solutions increases around the globe, we see an opportunity to combine our knowledge and systems with Dude Solutions and bring our expertise to a broader marketplace. Our experience in applying a data-driven approach to driving ESG improvements enhances the combined platform’s capabilities to collectively address sustainability and environmental impacts.”

“We believe the combination of EPL and Dude Solutions enables the platform to move up-market and help our existing customers plan for and manage climate and carbon sustainability goals,” said Prashant Mehrotra, Partner and Managing Director, and Paul Huber, Principal, of Clearlake. “We are always looking to enhance the capabilities of the platform, and the addition of EPL unlocks the opportunity to combine the best-of functionality from both companies and reinforce the capabilities Dude Solutions can offer to its valued customer base. We also look forward to leveraging our O.P.S.® framework to maximize the potential of this acquisition and drive accelerated growth for the platform.”

District Capital Partners acted as the buyside advisor to Dude Solutions, and Software Equity Group served as the exclusive advisor to EPL.

About Dude Solutions

Dude Solutions is a leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider of operations management solutions to education, government, healthcare, senior living, manufacturing, and membership-based organizations. For 20 years, Dude Solutions has inspired clients to create better work and better lives. We combine innovative, user-friendly technology with the world’s smartest operations engine, empowering operations leaders to transform the most important places in our lives. Today, more than 12,000 organizations use our award-winning software to manage maintenance, assets, energy, events, and more. For more information, visit dudesolutions.com.

About Clearlake

Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. is an investment firm founded in 2006 operating integrated businesses across private equity, credit, and other related strategies. With a sector-focused approach, the firm seeks to partner with experienced management teams by providing patient, long-term capital to dynamic businesses that can benefit from Clearlake’s operational improvement approach, O.P.S.® The firm’s core target sectors are technology, industrials, and consumer. Clearlake currently has over $55 billion of assets under management and its senior investment principals have led or co-led over 300 investments. The firm has offices in Santa Monica and Dallas. More information is available at www.clearlake.com and on Twitter @ClearlakeCap.

ADDISON, Ill. (PRWEB) January 03, 2022

ITsavvy, one of the world’s foremost complete technology solution providers, just announced the acquisition of Technology Resource Advisors (TRA) K-12 Computing division based in Milwaukee. The acquisition is a significant milestone for rapidly growing ITsavvy.

ITsavvy President and COO Munu Gandhi said, “The pandemic has changed how and where students learn and employees work requiring devices to be deployed for remote use. The need for a holistic service to manage those remotely deployed devices has accelerated. TRA’s K-12 Computing division, and their associated ChromeCare Warranty platform, is the industry leading service in the K-12 education space. We look forward to the combination of both of our firms’ capabilities to serve our joint clients. We are excited to have the talented TRA K-12 Computing team join our firm, leveraging our mutual client-centric values and expertise to deliver a world-class experience for our clients.”

This acquisition will deliver strategic client enablement, increase scale and promote a strong cultural fit.

• Expands Capabilities: The transaction will enable the combined firm to deliver end-to-end Device as a Service capabilities to the public and private sector.
• Accelerates Services and Solutions: ITsavvy’s Advanced Solutions Group will double in size and will be able to unify their service portfolio to provide increased services.
• Strengthens Partner Ecosystem: The unified firm will have significant scale with distribution and OEM partners; enhancing service for mutual clients.
• Strong People-Centric Culture Fit: Both ITsavvy and TRA’s K-12 Computing division have a client-centric, people-first approach to culture.

TRA CEO Jason Schmitt said, “With the rapid growth of our K-12 Computing division the past few years, it became clear to me that our clients would benefit greatly from access to deeper and broader technology offerings beyond the end-user device. ITsavvy was the clear choice to fulfill this vision because of their robust technology stack and their exceptional track record of client satisfaction which is a result of their corporate values. TRA’s K-12 Computing clients and employees will benefit greatly from the power of ITsavvy.”

TRA’s Managed IT Services practice which focuses on private sector businesses and non-profit organizations with 20 to 250 employees in the Milwaukee area has been rebranded as Risetech Partners and will be led by Jason Schmitt.

ITsavvy is a leader in tailored, end-to-end IT product and service solutions. ITsavvy built its reputation as a value-added reseller with industry-leading product availability, design and implementation, client support, and delivery speed through 46 distribution centers across the U.S. ITsavvy also has data center locations in Cedar Knolls, N.J. and Oak Brook, Ill. The company’s user-friendly website provides concise, leading-edge IT decision-making resources, including an e-commerce site with real-time pricing and availability. ITsavvy is headquartered in Addison, Ill., with offices in Chicago’s Loop; Milwaukee, Naples, Fla.; Miami; Warren, N.J.; Hayward, Calif.; Beavercreek, Ohio, and Raleigh, N.C. Call 855.ITsavvy (855.487.2889), email info@ITsavvy.com, visit http://www.ITsavvy.com. For media inquiries, contact Jeanna Van Rensselar at Smart PR Communications; 630-363-8081. Full release at: https://www.itsavvy.com/itsavvy-announces-acquisition-of-technology-resource-advisors-k-12-computing/

ITsavvy is one of the fastest-growing resources for integrated IT products and technology solutions in the U.S. Combining a comprehensive value-added reseller business with industry-leading IT solutions, ITsavvy is a single-source, end-to-end IT partner that strives to continuously deliver peace of mind to its clients.

Contact your dedicated Account Manager:

Matthew Butler
Client Executive Public Sector
630-396-6307
mbutler@itsavvy.com

Learn More About ITsavvy