Learning.net

Learning.net was founded in 1998 as part of the tremendous movement of intellectual property to the Internet at that time. To facilitate the transfer of learning online, particularly continuing education, Learning.net built a learning management system and learning content management system using open source software programmed in mod_perl. Those systems which we called Plato, funded by venture capital, launched a site to deliver online continuing education to California Realtors in 1999.

Learning.net continued to pursue the continuing education market. But with hundreds of companies publishing thousands of courses online, it became clear that continuing education would become a commodity market with little hope of commercial success.

However, one viable continuing education market did emerge, that being continuing professional education for certified public accounts (CPE for CPAs). In 2001, Learning.net became an approved provider of CPE through the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA). Through an understanding of this market Learning.net developed consulting and software services relationships with Deloitte, the accounting firm, and CCH, the respected business publisher. We evolved our software platform to meet the unique needs of the CPE marketplace and this business has shown growth and success.

Also in 2001 Learning.net acquired Acme Training, a boutique consulting firm specializing in learning development for corporate clients. Learning.net was able to extend Plato to meet the learning management needs of most of Acme’s client base and thereby grew the system into a viable LMS/LCMS platform for the general market.

By 2005 Learning.net overcame all the legacy issues of the Internet boom and was operating profitably in the software services sector of the education market. However, we became increasingly aware that the LMS/LCMS market had a low cost of entry and new companies were coming online continuously, again driving down margins and threatening long-term viability.

In response to what we saw as the inherent weaknesses of most, if not all, LMS products, Learning.net made the decision to take a different approach. We would establish a base, out-of-the box product at a very low price point to meet the needs of smaller organizations where the race to the lowest price by competitors would still make us a good choice. On the other side of the equation, our product would be easily customizable so that organizations with unique learning management needs would have an option suitable for meeting their needs.

In 2007 Learning.net launched the Trellis LMS. Trellis, like our earlier product, is based on open source software. Trellis is a Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP – LAMP – software system. The move to PHP opens the development of the software to a large programming community. The continuation with open source software means that Trellis is from step one a cost-effective solution.

Learning.net, today, is totally focused on software services. We host our software solutions for 99% of our customers. Trellis Out-of-the-Box provides a very cost-effective solution for smaller learning communities. The Trellis family of products – TrellisManage, TrellisAuthor, TrellisTalk – offer an opportunity for larger organizations to customize a learning management system to their unique needs at the cost of what others offer off-the-shelf.

Learning.net is profitable. We pay our investors dividends every year. We have a stable workforce of customer-oriented employees. We look forward to talking to you about your learning management needs.