Cisco Announces Agreement to Acquire WebEx
Acquisition Furthers Cisco's Vision for Enabling Collaboration in the SMB Market
SAN JOSE, Calif., and SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 15, 2007 -- Cisco and WebEx today announced a definitive agreement for Cisco to acquire WebEx. WebEx is a market leader in on-demand collaboration applications, and its network-based solution for delivering business-to-business collaboration extends Cisco's vision for Unified Communications, particularly within the Small to Medium Business (SMB) segment.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco will commence a cash tender offer to purchase all of the outstanding shares of WebEx for $57 per share and will assume outstanding share-based awards, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $3.2 billion, or approximately $2.9 billion net of WebEx's existing cash balance. The transaction will be accounted for in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and the acquisition of WebEx is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Cisco's fiscal year 2007. Cisco anticipates this transaction will be neutral to its non-GAAP FY2008 earnings.

The acquisition has been approved by the board of directors of each company and is subject to various standard closing conditions, including approval under Hart Scott Rodino and similar laws outside the U.S.

"As collaboration in the workplace becomes increasingly important, companies are looking for rich communications tools to help them work more effectively and efficiently," said Charles H. Giancarlo, Chief Development Officer at Cisco. "The combination of Cisco and WebEx will deliver compelling solutions accelerating this next wave of business communications.

Cisco believes the network is a platform for all forms of communications and collaboration, and WebEx's technology and services portfolio complement Cisco's leadership in the Unified Communications and collaboration market, while providing Cisco with a new and unique business model to expand its presence in the fast-growing SMB market," Giancarlo continued.

"Cisco and WebEx share a vision of web collaboration as a key to accelerating business processes and critical to durable competitive advantage," said Subrah S. Iyar, CEO of WebEx. "Cisco's global reach and customer focus will help us extend our core web collaboration applications and continue to broaden the services we offer through the WebEx Connect platform."

WebEx's service portfolio includes technologies and services that allow companies to engage in real-time and asynchronous data conferences over the Internet as well as share web-based documents and workspaces that help improve productivity, performance and efficiency of workers in any size organization. WebEx's subscription-based services strategy has been key to its success, and Cisco plans to preserve this business model going forward.

Following the close of the transaction, WebEx will become a part of Cisco's Development Organization while maintaining its unique business model. Mr. Iyar will report directly to Mr.Giancarlo.

WebEx was founded in 1995 and held its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in July 2000. The company has close to 2200 employees. For FY2006, which ended December 31, 2006, WebEx reported revenues of $380 million.

About Cisco
Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.

About WebEx
With 2.2 million registered users, WebEx (NASDAQ: WEBX) is the global leader in on-demand applications for collaborative business on the web. These applications enhance high-touch business processes, such as sales and training, with efficient web-touch interactions. As an on-demand provider, WebEx is able to facilitate both internal and external collaboration. WebEx delivers its range of applications over the WebEx MediaTone Network, a global network specifically designed for the secure delivery of on-demand applications. WebEx applications support multipoint videoconferencing, web conferencing and application remote control. WebEx is based in Santa Clara, California and has regional headquarters in Europe, Asia and Australia. Please call toll free 877-509-3239 or visit www.WebEx.com for more information.


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How to Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century

Source: Time.com
By CLAUDIA WALLIS, SONJA STEPTOE
There's a dark little joke exchanged by educators with a dissident streak: Rip Van Winkle awakens in the 21st century after a hundred-year snooze and is, of course, utterly bewildered by what he sees. Men and women dash about, talking to small metal devices pinned to their ears. Young people sit at home on sofas, moving miniature athletes around on electronic screens. Older folk defy death and disability with metronomes in their chests and with hips made of metal and plastic. Airports, hospitals, shopping malls--every place Rip goes just baffles him. But when he finally walks into a schoolroom, the old man knows exactly where he is. "This is a school," he declares. "We used to have these back in 1906. Only now the blackboards are green."
Read more from here.

School Matters: The Games Children Play

The UK is the world's third-largest market for video and computer games, generating sales of over one billion pounds a year.

This programme features two leading academics who support the use of games in education are Henry Jenkins, director of comparative media studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Jim Gee, professor of education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

They look at a number of UK-based education projects using gaming technology, including an initiative aiming to help children author their own games.

Also examined are gaming addiction and the impact of violent images contained in some games. Mark Griffiths, professor of gambling studies at Nottingham Trent tells us 1 in 20 children play videogames for 30 hours or per week.

USDLA Hall of Fame Inductee, Dr. Robert A. Wisher, Ph.D. is featured on the cover of Military Training Technology magazine!

ADL Advocate: Making the Vision of Learning Anytime, Anywhere, a Reality

Interview with Robert A. Wisher, Ph.D.
Director, Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative (ADL) Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD)

The article can be found at http://www.military-training-technology.com/article.cfm?DocID=1800

Cyber High Schools Start Taking Off (CBS - The Early Show)

Just 10 years ago, schools were working hard to bring a computer to every classroom, but as The Early Show correspondent Debbye Turner discovered, for a growing number of students, the computer has actually become the classroom.

Florida Virtual School headed by USDLA Board Member, Julie Young was mentioned, so check it out.

Visit: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/24/earlyshow/main2207764.shtml

New USDLA Global Affiliate Chapters

USDLA Global Affiliate Chapters are designed to fulfill the needs of the distance learning community as a whole through meetings, conferences and activities. USDLA Global Affiliate Chapters (GAC) represent global affiliates of the United States national association as a global resource for the promotion, development and application of distance learning for educating and training.
http://www.usdla.org/html/aboutUs/gac.htm