<< ClassLink in the News

The Record
March 2, 2003

A start-up built to last
Hoboken firm goes to school on others' mistakes

Martha McKay’s article which appeared in The Record on March 2, 2003 describes her visit to the ClassLink office and her meeting with president Berj Aiken. “ClassLink, which sprang to life five years ago from a series of cardboard accordion files on Akian's kitchen table, is a serious business selling computer systems to schools with something rare among high-tech start-ups: It turned a profit last year.”

She describes how Aiken, who built the business based on his first hand observation of the difficulties of maintaining and managing computer systems, sought out the appropriate market for is solution. His decision to focus on K- 12 school systems was based on a conversation he had with a teacher who couldn’t use the computer in her classroom.

ClassLink’s thin client technology enables schools to link all their computers as well as students’ and teachers’ home computers utilizing existing hardware which save money in equipment costs.

“With their system, every time a student logs onto a computer, he or she sees the same programs and has access to his or her own work. Teachers can update work, parents can monitor it, and the computer screen's "desktop is consistent wherever they go," said Kate Matthews, a former Jersey City vocational school teacher and ClassLink's director of education.”