Blackboard Acquires Another Software Company

Rumors circulating in the blogosphere about Blackboard acquiring Xythos Software are true. Chief Executive Michael Chasen of Blackboard confirmed today that his company bought Xythos, a producer of content-management systems for government, commercial, and educational organizations, in November.

Xythos and Blackboard have been working together for more than four years. And Blackboard has used Xythos technology in the Blackboard Content System, software for storing and managing data, said Mr. Chasen. He did not reveal the cost of the recent Blackboard purchase, saying only that it was “a small technology acquisition.” He said Xythos will continue to operate in San Francisco under its own name.

“We thought it was important for us to own that technology because it was becoming such a critical part of our overall solution set,” said Mr. Chasen, adding that Blackboard intends to use Xythos technology in other software applications.

This month Blackboard announced it had purchased NTI Group, a company that offers colleges emergency-notification systems—-Andrea L. Foster