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All Others: 1-585-240-7500

 

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History

Founded in 1982 as Logical Operations by two professors from the Rochester Institute of Technology, the company began as an onsite computer training facility. In 1991, Ziff-Davis acquired the company, renamed it Ziff-Davis (ZD Education and made published materials available to a broader, offsite audience. In 1996, ZD Education introduced LearnItOnline.com - the first online learning site to offer an interactive, self-paced information technology curriculum. In February 2000, U.S. Equity Partners, L.P., an affiliate of Wasserstein & Co., acquired the company and renamed it Element K®.  Element K has become a respected leader in the industry, known for our integrated products and services and unparalleled customer service and support.

1982 Logical Operations, our first training center, is founded to help train employees on a new piece of office equipment – the micro computer.

1987 Our official courseware model is purchased by other training organizations nationwide.

1989 Our extensive catalog of training materials is offered to training centers and colleges nationwide. We are the first to formally publish original curriculum and training products.

1991 We are the first to offer an alternative to vendor-authorized print courseware. Ziff-Davis acquired Logical Operations and The Cobb Group. We become the leading publisher of computer-related journals and e-mail tips. Today we serve more than 100,000 journal subscribers and 850,000 e-mail subscribers.

1993 We become the nation's leading publisher of personal computer training products, and one of the largest personal computer training facilities in the world.

1996 We are the first company to offer online, self-paced training on the Web. We are the first to offer tools to customize print courseware and the first to offer in-classroom media tools (ActiveLearn) and Case-Based Learning (LearnPro).

2000 Ziff-Davis University takes a new name, Element K is born, and in less than a year, Element K is noted as a Best of the Web pick by Forbes.com.

2001 KnowledgeHub, our powerful learning management platform, is launched. For the second year in a row, Forbes.com recognizes Element K as a Best of the Web pick. Element K offers custom content and custom site development services. Element K partners with Harvard Business School Publishing to strengthen business and soft-skill course offerings.

2002 We acquire the intellectual property of vLab virtual lab technology. Element K launches KnowledgeHub Authoring Services, a web-based course authoring tool. Element K is selected as a Cisco Learning Solutions Partner.

2003 Microsoft outsources the development of its e-Learning (Official Microsoft Learning Products) to Element K. Additionally, Microsoft outsources the North American distribution of its ILT courseware to Element K.

2004 Element K was placed in the Magic Quadrant by Gartner Research, highlighting Element K"s superior instructional design and effectiveness.

2005 Eli Research purchases Journals business as Element K increases focus on learning solutions and services.

2006 Element K increases global reach and efficiency by joining the NIIT family of businesses.

2008 Voted Best IT Content by ELearning! third year in a row, selected into Training Outsourcing's Top 20 third year in a row.

2009 First and only provider of print and online products built to work together in the real world.

 

Investors:  NIIT Limited

Corporate Status:  Element K is a group company of NIIT.

Employees:  700