ArsDigita
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Web development, Software |
| Founded | 1997 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States |
| Founder | Philip Greenspun, Tracy Adams, Ben Adida, Eve Andersson, Olin Shivers, Aurelius Prochazka, Jin Choi |
| Defunct | 2002 |
| Fate | Acquired by Red Hat |
| Headquarters | Cambridge , United States |
Key people | Philip Greenspun (founder) |
| Products | ArsDigita Community System (ACS) |
Number of employees | 180 (at peak) |
| Parent | Red Hat |
ArsDigita, LLC, established in 1997 in Cambridge, Massachusetts by Philip Greenspun, Tracy Adams, Ben Adida, Eve Andersson, Olin Shivers, Aurelius Prochazka, and Jin Choi, was a web development firm recognized for its open-source software suite, the ArsDigita Community System (ACS). ACS facilitated the development of database-driven community websites and served as the groundwork for OpenACS, which incorporated PostgreSQL to deliver a completely open-source platform. The company experienced significant growth during the dot-com boom before being acquired by Red Hat.
Establishment
ArsDigita became notable for its unique employee referral rewards. In 1999, staff members who recruited five new employees were awarded a Honda S2000, while those who brought in ten qualified for a Ferrari F355. To inspire personnel, a bright yellow Ferrari F355 was prominently showcased outside their Cambridge headquarters. This incentive program was later modified under new leadership to provide leased vehicles instead of owned ones.
ArsDigita Foundation and ArsDigita University
The company’s founders created the ArsDigita Foundation, which supported the ArsDigita Prize—a programming competition for high school students held between 1999 and 2001. In 2000, they introduced ArsDigita University, an intensive, tuition-free one-year post-baccalaureate computer science curriculum modeled after MIT’s undergraduate program and funded by the foundation. The teaching staff mainly comprised professors from MIT.
Enrollment involved completing problem sets focused on Internet application development using Oracle databases and programming assignments in Tcl. Although the inaugural class graduated in 2001, the program ceased operations after the foundation was dissolved. Nevertheless, course content and lectures remain accessible online under an open content license via aduni.org, continuing to promote free education. Additionally, a commercial DVD set of these materials is available.
Among the notable instructors was Holly Yanco, who progressed to become a computer science professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and earned recognition as a 2013 Woman to Watch for her achievements.
Closure
At its height, ArsDigita employed approximately 180 people; however, following the dot-com bust, numerous clients either shuttered or slashed their technology budgets. The costs associated with maintaining offices in Cambridge, Berkeley, Washington D.C., and Ann Arbor became financially untenable. The Ann Arbor branch shut down in September 2000, with other locations closing in subsequent months.
In 2000, ArsDigita raised $38 million in venture capital funding from Greylock Partners and General Atlantic to broaden its product offerings. According to founder Philip Greenspun, these investors orchestrated an internal coup that removed the original founders and placed inexperienced management at the helm—an event that precipitated the company’s downturn and led to litigation over control. Former employee Michael Yoon also pointed to additional managerial problems. The conflict was resolved privately, with Greenspun receiving $7.6 million.
By 2002, Red Hat had acquired ArsDigita’s core assets, including intellectual property rights and select physical resources.
External links
- General
- ArsDigita University
- aduni.org, website for alumni
- Account of a visit by Aaron Swartz
- "All About ArsDigita University", an alumnus’s page detailing the institution
- "Communications of the ACM", article authored by ADU director Shai Simonson
- Archive of ArsDigita University courseware hosted at the Internet Archive