PHOENIX–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The rSmart Group Inc., the first provider of commercial support for the open source collaboration and learning environment Sakai, today announced that it would begin providing commercial support and its rSmart Sakai CLE, a Collaboration and Learning Environment (CLE), to three separate institutions across the globe: The Georgia Institute of Technology, The University of Windsor, and The University of Limerick.

The Georgia Institute of Technology – Atlanta, Georgia is piloting the rSmart Sakai CLE this fall and evaluating it as a full replacement for its proprietary course management system. Several factors have led Georgia Tech to this decision including the robust nature of the Sakai tools for collaboration, the commercial support offered by rSmart and the freedom from vendor lock-in that is common with traditional proprietary software vendors. Donna Llewellyn, Director of Georgia Tech’s Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, said, “rSmart was a key factor in our decision to pilot Sakai on our campus. With rSmart’s support we expect to be able to test out Sakai in a number of courses without first ramping up our internal support.”

University of Windsor – Windsor, Ontario, Canada has engaged the rSmart Group to help provide commercial support for its pioneering Sakai open-source learning system, said Purita Bristow, Manager – Information Systems Services. “We felt it was the right business decision for the institution to establish a more traditional partnership for support,” added Bristow. “rSmart’s commercial support for Sakai is outstanding and the firm’s strong reputation in the Sakai community gave us a lot of confidence in their ability to deliver service that meets our needs.” The open-source software learning model enables the university to craft an information system to meet its unique needs and to work in partnership with other post-secondary institutions, such as the University of Michigan, Indiana University, and Stanford University.

University of Limerick – Limerick, Ireland is piloting the rSmart Sakai CLE this fall. The University is utilizing rSmart’s on-demand ‘hosted’ solution and will be integrating the CLE with their LDAP and Student Information Systems. “We have carefully followed the progress of the Sakai Community and believe that deploying this solution with rSmart allows us to deploy a Sakai product that is very user friendly and a solution that can be hosted through rSmart providing us greater flexibility, security, and an overall lower total cost of ownership than is available through proprietary solutions,” said Gordon Young, IT Director, University of Limerick.

“Our rSmart Sakai CLE continues to be the most successful commercial open source enterprise application for education, and it is paving the way for a fundamental shift in the development and business of software in Education,” said Chris Coppola, President and Co-Founder of The rSmart Group. “Our ability to bring these geographically diverse customers on board clearly shows the market demand for an alternative that better meets the needs of colleges and universities around the world.”

About The rSmart Group

The rSmart Group is the leading open source application software company serving the higher education market. rSmart packages, certifies, deploys, and supports a suite of enterprise financial and collaborative learning applications for colleges and universities. As an active member of open source projects like Kuali and Sakai, rSmart is able to provide its clients with software applications specifically designed to meet the unique needs of institutions of higher education. This collaborative approach allows rSmart to offer colleges and universities open source applications that break their dependence on traditional proprietary software vendors. Please visit www.rsmart.com for more information.

About The Georgia Institute of Technology

The Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the nation’s premiere research universities. Ranked eighth among “U.S. News & World Report”’s top public universities, Georgia Tech’s 17,000 students are enrolled in its Colleges of Architecture, Computing, Engineering, Liberal Arts, Management and Sciences. Tech is among the nation’s top producers of women and African-American engineers. The Institute offers research opportunities to both undergraduate and graduate students and is home to more than 100 interdisciplinary units plus the Georgia Tech Research Institute.

About The University of Windsor

The University of Windsor, located in the southernmost part of Canada, across the Detroit River from Michigan, is a medium-sized, comprehensive university, offering a wide array of under-graduate and post-graduate courses. It highlights engineering, notably automotive engineering, law and environmental studies.

About The University of Limerick

The University of Limerick (UL) has 11,000 students and 1,200 staff, one of Ireland’s newest Universities and is a recognised leader in education innovation and a significant centre for research in a range of fields of strategic importance to the economic, social and cultural development of Ireland. Located in an attractive parkland setting on the banks of the River Shannon, the University is a highly respected and integral part of a vibrant community.