Meridian Selects OutStart to Expand Breadth and Depth of LCMS Functionality in its Learning Suite

OutStart, the leading provider of eKnowledge software solutions for learning and knowledge sharing, and Meridian Knowledge Solutions LLC, announced today that Meridian will offer OutStart’s industry-leading LCMS solutions — OutStart Evolution LCMS and OutStart Studio, as part of the Meridian KSI leadership LMS suite. This enables Meridian to offer its customers and prospects a best-of-breed solution for both LMS and learning content creation, management, and delivery all from a single, trusted vendor. “Our primary objective at Meridian is to provide our customers with the absolute best-in-class learning solutions,” said Paul Somerville, Meridian Founder. “By expanding our offering to include OutStart Evolution LCMS and OutStart Studio in our leadership LMS suite, we are able to deliver on that promise with the finest LCMS technology in the market.” “Meridian is a company that shares the same dedication to delivering great solutions and outstanding customer support that we do at OutStart,” said Massood Zarrabian, OutStart president and CEO. “We are happy to extend our relationship, which already includes successful joint customers, to offer OutStart LCMS technologies as part of their leadership suite” OutStart and Meridian have a strong business synergy that is evident in their commitment to customer support and technical innovation. Both companies were recognized in Bersin and Associates’ recent study, LMS Customer Satisfaction 2007. The independently funded study analyzed feedback from LMS customers in 20 different areas. The study recognized Meridian as a customer loyalty leader for its high customer ratings across the board. Outstart was also recognized for its content development tools and integration, ease of use, and customer service. “It is important for alliances to serve market needs,” said Josh Bersin, president of Bersin & Associates, a research and advisory firm specializing in enterprise learning and talent management. “For most organizations today, content management has become just as important as learning management. Meridian customers will see tremendous advantages with an integrated solution for content development and management.” Both Meridian and Outstart are early adopters and ardent supporters of the SCORM standards and the ADL SCORM initiative. The support for these standards ensures reusability and interoperability among diverse learning systems and protects organizational investments in learning content. About Meridian
Headquartered in Chantilly, Va., Meridian is a wholly owned subsidiary of Visionary Integration Professionals, a professional services organization focused on business intelligence, data warehousing, and assessment services. Founded in 1997 Meridian has consistently grown revenues and profits while delivering industry leading customer satisfaction. Meridian’s flagship product, Meridian Global 2007 LMS, is a dynamic suite that integrates learning content management, knowledge management, and competency modeling functionality with traditional LMS capabilities. Meridian is focused on delivering LMS/LCMS solutions to the commercial sector with intense focus on the pharmaceutical, retail, financial, and healthcare sectors. Additionally, Meridian supports over 200 clients including many large enterprise implementations in the public sector. A sampling of these clients include: the United States Air Force, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, US Customs, the US Army, Navy, Marines, and numerous state and local governments. About OutStart
OutStart software powers formal and on-demand learning, knowledge sharing and community/expert collaboration solutions that enable knowledge workers – employees, partners, and customers – to perform their roles far more efficiently and effectively. AgustaWestland, Autodesk, British Telecom, CVS Caremark, the US Navy, Verizon Wireless and others rely on OutStart to increase individual and organizational performance, improve knowledge transfer and lower operating costs. Located in Boston, Mass., OutStart has offices throughout the U.S. and Europe and can be found on the web at www.outstart.com