SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – June 14, 2010: NIIT® and Element K® together collected a prestigious Green Training Award at the LearnX Asia Pacific 2010 Conference and Expo for their application of virtual labs for IT certification training. vLabs, or the Virtual Labs Management System, enables individuals to apply their skills in live Microsoft, Linux, Oracle, Cisco, and custom environments from anywhere in the world, without having to invest in any hardware or software.

As part of the award application, NIIT and Element K claimed, “Deploying identical infrastructure across hundreds of education centers was neither cost effective nor green, as infrastructure is underutilized and also creates management overhead. As a result, NIIT decided to set up virtual labs to reduce the number of deployments by having a centralized infrastructure. It also contributes to Green IT by reducing CO2 emission that would have been generated due to massive deployments at education centers.”

Rob Clarke, founder and event organizer of the LearnX Asia Pacific Conference and Expo said, “It really is an important time to credit innovation and talent and we are thrilled with the number entering the awards this year.” He continued, “It goes to prove that the Awards have really matured into something special. They are regarded as the most prestigious accolades and recognition that an individual, team or organization from the corporate and public service sectors in e-Learning and training can achieve,” according to a statement issued about the awards.

Over the past two years, Element K has made significant strides in the Australian and Asian learning markets. Specifically, Element K has focused on delivering learning solutions that are uniquely beneficial to the region, including:

• The Virtual Labs Management System, or vLabs, recognized here by LearnX Asia Pacific 2010. vLabs enable companies and educational institutions to set up live learning environments for employees and students who are geographically dispersed, whether they are for off-the-shelf or custom technologies. This eliminates the need to set up learning centers individually, invest in hardware or software for each center, or incur the high costs and productivity challenges to maintain the environments.
   
• Blended learning that supports real-world training applications. This modality recognizes that learning takes place both in the classroom as well as through individual initiative, and often requires a blend of directed instruction, self-study, practice, and peer-to-peer collaboration. Element K’s content is designed to flexibly adapt to a variety of delivery approaches, and the company’s on-demand learning management system, KnowledgeHub™, provides deeply integrated social learning tools.
   
• Vertically oriented learning programs that are optimized to support the needs of corporations, higher education, and individual IT professionals who pursue and maintain vendor-authorized certifications. Element K acknowledges that each audience has a specific set of needs, and approaches every client and market segment with that in mind.

Paul Krause, President and CEO of Element K, said, “We are proud to offer online courses, vLabs, and our KnowledgeHub On Demand learning management that enable effective learning solutions, while also being environmentally friendly. Together with our Australian partners, we will continue to create and distribute innovative learning solutions that support businesses, academic institutions, and IT professionals in the region, and are consistent with our corporate values.”

Element K is delivered throughout the region through local distributors.  Click to find a distributor near you.

About Element K
With nearly 30 years in training and development, Element K provides learning solutions that enable organizations to develop employees, support partners, and educate customers. 
 
Clients use our broad collection of e-Learning content, virtual labs, e-Reference, classroom materials, and blended solutions to align training objectives with business results.   Element K’s turnkey products include thousands of business skills, compliance, desktop productivity, web design and advanced IT learning assets.  For proprietary learning needs, Element K partners with clients to design and develop custom learning programs.

Element K’s flexible content delivery options enable clients to use custom branded learning portals with our on-demand KnowledgeHub LMS, or play hosted Element K content via our ContentHub Integration Server on a client’s LMS.  Element K offers classroom materials fulfillment, and a range of administrative and advisory services, supporting the learning needs of the Corporate, Government, Education and Training Center markets worldwide. 

As a group company of NIIT – a global talent development corporation operating in 44 countries – Element K has unmatched global reach and efficiency.  The company employs over 700 professionals and is headquartered in Rochester NY.  For more information, please visit www.elementk.com.
 
Element K Contact
David Snider
Senior Director, Marketing
(585) 214-6327
david_snider@elementk.com