E-Learning application service provider VCampus Corp. today debuted its
Course Delivery Engine 2000 education online initiative.
As a part of its expansion of education services, VCampus deepened its relationship with Exodus Communications, Inc.
to upgrade its delivery system to handle up to one million
courses each month.
VCampus also redesigned its courseware engine to create consistent
navigation throughout its learning programs. Additionally, instructors will
be able to customize the look and feel of the course content they create.
The upgrades will be tested over the summer in preparation for increased
demand for its services in the third quarter.
Nat Kannan, VCampus chairman and chief executive officer, said the hosting
upgrade and interface re-design further differentiate its Web-based
learning services from the crowd.
“We believe that this is what truly sets VCampus apart from its
competitors,” Kannan said. “None of our competitors have the experience or
the ability to deliver this number of courses.”
Kannan added that VCampus recently forged a partnership with US West in anticipation of its seasonal
growth needs.
“We plan to complete all updates, including installations at U S West
, before August,” Kannan said. “Our team is working double
time to finish this before the fall peak demand.”
According to IDC research, the ASP model
has made its way into the learning industry, and the learning industry will
never be the same.
Cushing Anderson, IDC Learning Services program manager, said that the ASP
model threatens to disrupt existing ways of doing business for all types of
learning vendors.
“Many learning vendors don’t recognize the depth of the ASPs’ impact on
their industry segments,” Anderson said. “Nearly all vendors will need to
participate in some form of ASP solution to maintain a presence in the
industry.”
With a multibillion-dollar market on the horizon, leading learning vendors,
whether they specialize in delivery, content, or services, are scrambling
to develop ASP market-entry strategies.
Anderson said the ASP model necessitates numerous vendors, partnerships,
and alliances to put all the pieces together.
“The ASP model is about forming relationships between companies to form
whole-product solutions,” Anderson said. “The success of the ASP model in
the learning industry will come from partnership networks that are built to
include learning delivery vendors, content vendors, and learning service
providers.”
Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, VCampus develops, manages and hosts
turnkey, Web-based learning environments for corporations, academic
institutions and government agencies though its ASP delivery model. The
firm is well positioned to reap a lion’s share of the e-learning market
segment.
In addition to training and education, the VCampus platform can also be
used to deliver customer relationship management, enterprise resource
planning, and product-related strategic business plans.
VCampus distributes a courseware library of more than 1,100 web-based
courses. The firm delivered more than 750,000 courses to over 250,000
students of the end of March 2000.
