- Source: Datatel
Datatel, Inc. was a private company that provided fully integrated software and professional services to build enterprise education platforms for higher education until it combined with its competitor SunGard Higher Education to form Ellucian in 2012. Datatel was headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia.
With 533 employees, Datatel had more than 799 client institutions located in the United States, Canada, Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and Bermuda.
History
Datatel was founded by Tom Davidson in 1968 as a data processing service bureau. The company began in the mezzanine of a suburban office supply store outside of Washington, D.C. A few years later, Datatel began performing data processing for banks. In 1973, the company grew substantially when Davidson merged Datatel with Data Technology Corporation, owned by Ken Kendrick. Datatel focused on higher education since 1979.
Beginning in 1992, the company was led by Russ Griffith, who died on August 7, 2006. Under Griffith's leadership in 2005, Datatel's executive team—backed by Thoma Cressey Equity Partners, and Trident Capital—signed an agreement to acquire the company from Davidson and Kendrick. Davidson went on to co-found the Balance Bar food company in 1992, and Kendrick became a managing partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team. In 2004, Datatel acquired the LiquidMatrix Corporation, a Buffalo-based provider of student recruiting and alumni outreach Web-based software.
Datatel was acquired in December 2009 by private equity company Hellman & Friedman.
In March 2012, Datatel merged with SunGard Higher Education to form Ellucian.
= Timeline
=1972: Released the Silent 700, a programmable data terminal
1975: Became the first East Coast Microdata dealer
1976: Began development of TOPS, the Total Office Product System, later to be known as ASSETS
1979: Became first PRIME information dealer and began selling solutions for colleges and universities
Willamette University became first Datatel client
Development of Colleague began
1986: Opened San Francisco office
1987: Moved to current headquarters in the Fair Lakes area of Fairfax, Virginia
1988: Sold hundredth Colleague client
1989: Changed to multiplatform UNIX
1990: Established Datatel Scholar's Foundation
1991 Announced products on IBM and Sequent platforms
Acquired first Canadian client, the University of Waterloo
1996: Introduced Client/Server
2002: Formed Datatel Center for Institutional Effectiveness (DCIE)
2004: Acquired LiquidMatrix Corporation
2005: Management buyout of founders
2006: Longtime president and CEO Russ Griffith died
2007: Reached 39th year of consecutive growth
Released ActiveCampus Portal, built on Microsoft SharePoint
2009: Acquired in December 2009 by private equity company Hellman & Friedman.
2010: Announced 2009 revenues of $138 million
2012: Merged with SunGard Higher Education to form Ellucian
2021: Ellucian is acquired by Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners
Related information
In 1990, Datatel formed the Datatel Scholars Foundation to award scholarships to outstanding undergraduate and graduate students attending Datatel client institutions. The Foundation has awarded over 3,700 scholarships totaling more than $5.5 million.
Notes
Additional References
Company website
"Datatel Offers Web-Enabled Management Software," Campus Technology, August 12, 2002 Archived January 18, 2013, at archive.today
"Company Profile for Datatel, Inc." Reuters, 2008 Archived 2013-02-01 at archive.today
"Great Places to Work: The List," Washingtonian magazine, 2005
"Microsoft Announces 2008 Partner of the Year Awards Finalists and Winners," 2008
"Great Places to Work: Where to Feel at Home," Washingtonian magazine, 2007