VTN in the News

Aerospace customers lead the way in VTN's continued success

Published: Apr 17, 2008

VTN announced today that aviation giant, Jeppesen Sanderson (a division of the Boeing Company) has chosen Olé™ for their Training Management needs. Jeppesen is headquartered near near Centennial, Colorado with offices around the world including Neu Isenburg (Germany), Crawley (United Kingdom) and Canberra (Australia). The company employs approximately 3,000 people.

Jeppesen’s move to Olé™ follows other well-known aerospace organizations like Rockwell Collins, Alaska Airlines, Boeing IDS, US Navy & the Canadian Air Force who have chosen the Olé™ platform to manage their strategic training programs. All employees (including flight crews and maintenance personnel) can use the self service and automation features of the fully-integrated LMS/LCMS/TMS platform. This one-database approach, combined with VTN’s Software as a Service (SaaS) delivery model provides management with a rapidly deployed on-demand solution to the problem of managing compliance-based human capital development programs. Advanced reporting capabilities give managers instant, real-time information on the status of training programs and reports for regulating bodies such as the FAA, Transport Canada, FDA, NEP, etc.

John D Reasoner, Rockwell Collins’ Principle Multimedia Engineer commented: “Rockwell Collins is a Global Company with training departments around the world. Having a central location for our CBT content, ILT scheduling and downloads has significantly reduced our cycle time in development and customer response. It is very easy to set our customers up with the blended learning solutions they are looking for. Olé™ has enabled us to have a central place for SME's, ISD's, Programmer and Customers to work in. The Markup feature of Olé™ is marvelous - it allows us to capture comments and changes anywhere in the world. Some of our SME's are on the other side of the world and having a web based interface for validation and verification has proved itself time and time again. All of these elements have reduced our cycle time and saved money”.

Academic Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) certifies the Olé Online Learning Environment with SCORM 2004 (3rd Edition) Award

Published: June 8, 2007

VTN announced today that their flagship Olé learning platform has been awarded SCORM 2004 3rd Edition Certification. The SCORM certification process, completed April 19, 2007, was performed by Academic Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Co-Lab in Madison, Wisconsin.  

“This certification is just one more nod from industry that the Olé system is truly leading the way in offering a standards-based, integrated approach to LMS, LCMS and TMS technology that is powerful, easy to use and simple to deploy”, commented Stephen Brown, VTN’s Chief Technology Officer, “the concentrated effort put in to developing an enterprise-strength, web-based application architecture that utilizes web services and xml to achieve a true Software as a Service model (SaaS) is paying off tremendously.”

“We are really excited that for the first time in the history of e-learning content development, the Olé platform allows non-technical users to rapidly develop adaptive, level 3 SCORM 2004-certified courseware using a simple, collaborative authoring toolset and smart graphics” says George Uhrich, VTN’s President and CEO. “Add on the ability to blend and manage all types of learning (CBT, WBT, ILT, OJT, Simulation, etc.) with web-service integration to external systems such as HRIS, Performance Management, Synthetic Training Systems, etc., and the value of our approach becomes clear.”

VTN exhibiting at Learning Technologies SALT Conference, Orlando.

Published: January 2, 2007

VTN will be exhibiting at booth 1 at the SALT conference between January 31 and February 2nd, 2007. VTN's President and CEO, George Uhrich will be presenting a paper titled "Advantages of Dynamic e-Learning using an LCMS". The presentation is part of the Knowledge Management track and will be presented on February 1st at 2:15pm.

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VTN to showcase Olé, Online Learning Environment at Learning Technologies 2007, London.

Published: January 2, 2007

VTN are looking forward to meeting new and existing clients at Stand 100 in Olympia 2 where they will be demonstrating the Olé Online Learning Environment incorporating Learning Management System (LMS), Learning Content Management System (LCMS) and the Training Management System (TMS).

"Olé's unique feature set like Smart Graphics and advanced web based scheduling should prove to be popular at the exhibition", said Bob Eades, Program Manager (UK).

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Continued growth and interest in the Olé Learning Environment from international customers prompts leading learning environment provider to open offices in the UK.

Published: November 9, 2006

VTN Technologies Inc. ("VTN"), today announced the opening of a UK office in support of its European customers. VTN’s office will be based on the South Coast and will provide Sales and Support services across Europe.

VTN’s operation will be headed by Bob Eades, who has a wealth of experience with learning technologies and has been involved in the learning market for more than 15 years.

“In this Global Economy, organisations have the advantage of choosing the very best product for their needs, irrespective of the country of origin. To support this, VTN is creating a local support center that can provide the necessary support services”, commented George Uhrich, CEO.

Uhrich believes that VTN is continuing to win new business over more established vendors because of the innovations within the Olé platform - “We have always been proud of our independent approach to design and clients immediately see the benefits of “smart graphics” and our “single central database approach” to house the Learning Management System (LMS), Learning Content Management System (LCMS) and Training Management System (TMS)”. “Clients often cite user friendliness and ease of customization as key differentiators”, he added.

VTN has recently added Active Mind Solutions (UK), Rockwell Collins (US), Alaska Airlines (US), Verso Paper (US), Air Tindi (CAN), Alberta Government (CAN), Pacific Coastal Airlines (CAN), Sayler’s Consultancy (CAN) to its client list.

“I have seen most of the major platforms currently on the market”, said Bob Eades, Program Manager (UK), but I was really impressed by Olé”. “It is an enterprise-level product with many features I had not seen before”. “I believe the pricing to be very competitive and I think will become a growing force in the UK”.

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Harmony Air becomes the latest aviation customer to take advantage of VTN's Safety Management Toolkit (SMT).
Published: May 18, 2006

With the advent of the new aviation regulations in Canada, VTN has produced a unique offering to provide aviation organizations with their own Safety Management Toolkit.
 

Edmonton, AB - April 18, The WATS 2006 Conference proved to be the perfect launch environment for the VTN Technologies Inc. (“VTN”) new Training Management System (“TMS”). New customers kept the Olé™ team busy all through the show giving demonstrations and showing the benefits of a single database approach to drive an LMS, LCMS and TMS. Customers loved the web-based drag and drop advanced scheduler which is uniquely capable of automating the scheduling of complex aviation training with comments like “Best in show”, “I really think you’ve done it!”, “Why has no-one else thought of doing it like this?”.

VTN’s president & CEO, George Uhrich, commented “This has been our busiest year at WATS - most of the time we had people waiting to get on the booth for demonstrations"

George Uhrich co-presented a paper entitled “Implementing Technology Based Training Management at Air Canada: A Blueprint for Success” with Dave Matheson, Technical Training Systems Manager at Air Canada, which was well received, with many of the attendee requesting copies of the resulting white paper. 

During the show, attendees had the opportunity to enter a draw for a limited edition Robert Bailey aviation print entitled “Defiance at Dieppe”. The print was won by John “JJ” Milano from Horizon Air.
 

CBT for Generation M
VTN Technologies President and CEO George Uhrich says large CBT development efforts with short timelines require a "production line" effort rather than the previous inefficient "cottage style" method. He has teams in Florida, Texas, and Alberta, for example, working on the training management system (TMS) for the Canadian Air Force's Contracted Flying Training and Support (CFTS) program. "You must be able to support geographically dispersed developers, subject matter experts, and reviewers because the best people are spread out around the continent. It's all web-based so it doesn't matter where they are physically." Adherence to SCORM standards helps enable such long-distance collaboration. "Everything is a managed object. text, video, animation. it's all XML based," Uhrich says.

The advent of "smart graphics" has also been a time saving boon. Rather than having to create 300 separate graphics, for instance, to depict various possible positions of switches, developers can now use programs such as Macromedia Flash to create interactive switches, dials, and buttons, then re-use the template over and over. And when you change one object, the changes are propagated wherever that smart graphic is applied.

The VTN founder also notes the new "sequencing" rules, which debuted with the SCORM 2004 version "are becoming more important as adaptive learning strategies are increasingly being employed by instructional designers." At the same time, he continues to see demand for older file-based protocols capable of supporting legacy content.

One aspect that has not changed is the secure content must be produced on a secure terminal. "Some things cannot be done on your home PC or over the Internet," Uhrich acknowledges. And in the case of some projects, the Edmonton-based company uses separate servers on both sides of the US/Canadian border to satisfy export control laws.

Integrated Everything
Uhrich says VTN's military customers are now requesting a single integrated database that can drive all functionality - learning management system (LMS), learning content management system (LCMS), and training management system (TMS). "They want a seamless view of data across the organization. They want to make modifications once and have them dynamically update throughout the system. And they want fully web-based scheduling."

VTN's new Ole TMS Edition is claimed to be the world's first totally web-based scheduling system. "It's very user friendly," Uhrich adds. "It allows drag-and-drop changes, rather than waiting for properties pages to refresh."

Another bugaloo for military training customers is trying to integrate products from multiple vendors. "There have been some failures and frustrations on big programs, software programs not talking with each other, so many people are looking for a one stop shop," Uhrich says. We think we're there at the right time with the right product."
 
Full Article: MS&T Magazine - 02-2006
 

Contracts launch e-learning firm into big leagues
Published: Thursday, January 26, 2006

VTN Technologies really took off when they landed a lucrative contract to supply e-training systems to Boeing. That was in 2003, only four years after George Uhrich formed the Edmonton online learning company.Since then the major client list has included the U.S. Marines, International Paper, Enbridge and the Alberta government. And this week VTN secured a major electronic worker-training deal with U.S. fast food chain Taco Bell that continued the company's phenomenal growth.
  Full Article: The Edmonton Journal
 

VTN wins Alberta Government Standing Offer Contract to provide e-Learning Solution
Edmonton, Alberta, Jan 3, 2006

VTN Technologies Inc. ("VTN"), Canada's leading developer of web-based learning systems for government, military and corporate use, announced today that they have won a standing offer contract with the Government of Alberta.

VTN led a consortium to provide Government of Alberta's ministries, agencies, boards, and commissions with access to OléT, their Online Learning Environment (LMS/LCMS). The contract also includes the award-winning CodeBaby Production Studio Software, from CodeBaby Corp ("CodeBaby"), also of Edmonton. The award was subject to a full tender process and proposals from companies around the world were evaluated. This initiative provides government entities with access to a standardized learning platform.

The solution will provide a fully-featured e-Learning Platform that government trainers can use to develop and deliver highly interactive online training with virtual, animated 3D characters provided by CodeBaby. The system also features built-in automated testing and tracking to ensure knowledge retention and compliance to new regulations and procedures. OléT, which is in use in many large geographically dispersed organizations, is accepted by its customers as a low-risk, cost effective approach to e-learning initiatives.

George Uhrich, President & CEO of VTN, states: "This contract award builds on our track record of providing highly successful learning solutions for our Government clients. We are very pleased to be working with the Province to bring state-of-the-art e-learning opportunities to employees of the Government of Alberta and provincial agencies".

Shaheel Hooda, CEO CodeBaby comments: "This is a strong endorsement of the unique solution that VTN and CodeBaby are able to offer through our strategic alliance. We are happy to see that the Government of Alberta has recognized the value of our combined technologies, and look forward to working with VTN on many future opportunities."

About VTN
VTN are developers of the innovative OléT learning Management System which provides an enterprise-wide learning platform for Business, Government and Educational establishments. VTN is a privately held company based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

About CodeBaby
CodeBaby is the leader in Web-based virtual agent technology, and enables organizations to integrate state-of-the-art, interactive 3D characters into their Web sites and on-line applications. CodeBaby was named to the Branham Group's "Top 25 IT Up & Comers" list for 2004 and was short listed to the Red Herring Top 100 Innovators Award for 2005. Additional information about CodeBaby is available at http://www.codebaby.com.
 

VTN technologies Expand Offices and Executive Team
Edmonton, Alberta, Nov 6, 2005

VTN Technologies Inc. ("VTN"), today announced it has expanded its corporate offices and continues to strengthen its executive management team. Following a year of continued growth and success, the company recently doubled its office space and is adding additional members to its senior executive team.

The move doubles VTN's production, testing, and sales facilities and means that they now occupy a major portion of the office space at 17707, 105 Avenue in Edmonton.

"With the move, the company has also expanded its research and development and support capacity, boosting the number of personnel and incoming phone lines. We also anticipate several key staff additions in the near term" stated Stephen Brown, Vice President of Software Development.

"We are excited about this new phase of growth and expansion," said VTN's President and CEO George Uhrich. "These new offices give us room to grow as we continue to add new clients and develop new features for OléT. Companies look to VTN a long-term technology partner that will continue to deliver solutions that help them 'future-proof' their existing and planned learning strategies", added Uhrich.
 

Edmonton, Alberta, November 1, 2005

VTN Technologies Inc. ("VTN"), has been selected to provide the learning environment for FPMI at I/ITSEC 2005 in Florida. I/ITSEC is known as the biggest show in the modeling and simulation arena and runs from November 28th to December 1st at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.

VTN's President, George Uhrich, will be on the FPMI stand to offer demonstrations and advice where FPMI will be showcasing its integrated training solutions, including state-of-the-art three-dimensional real-time simulation models and courseware, automated electronic classroom development, D3M2 instructional system design and schoolhouse administration & management.

VTN's president, George Uhrich commented: "We are delighted that Olé™ has been chosen as the driver to showcase FPMI's integrated products & services. We always get a great reaction from visitors when they see Olé™ in action. FPMI selected Olé™ because of its ease of use and robust design".