Sunburst Technology Corporation

Sunburst Technology Corporation began in 1972 under the name of Sunburst Communications Inc. in the state of New York. The company is best known for children's educational software, especially their Type to Learn series. The majority of the company's products were sold to schools. The success of Sunburst Communications Inc. became noticed by Boston publishing conglomerate Houghton Mifflin Company which acquired it in May 1999.

Houghton Mifflin Interactive Corporation was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Houghton Mifflin Company. Formed in 1995, the division was originally located in Somerville, Massachusetts, in a 12,000 square foot facility. Houghton Mifflin Interactive's purpose was the creation, publishing and sales of multimedia titles for children, primarily in the area of education. Major corporate sales and support offices were maintained in Massachusetts and New York.

The consolidation of Sunburst Communications Inc. and Houghton Mifflin Interactive in 1999 resulted in changing the name to Sunburst Technology. This entity became a subsidiary of Houghton Mifflin under their K-12 Publishing segment which included other companies as well. Conall E. Ryan, who had been President of Houghton Mifflin Interactive Corporation since 1996, became the President of Sunburst Technology. Its function within the corporate structure was the development and sales of multimedia instructional products for both the elementary and secondary school markets. Sunburst's products were shipped from its facility located in Pleasantville, New York.

Sunburst Technology was a part of the global purchase of Houghton Mifflin by Vivendi in July 2001, and then Vivendi's sale of Houghton Mifflin to private Washington D.C. firm Thayer Capital Partners in October 2002. It was then that the company became a true separate company named Sunburst Technology Corporation and a subsidiary of Education Enrichment Resources Inc.

Sunburst Technology Corporation has locations in Elgin, Illinois, and Valhalla, New York, and is lead by CEO Mark Sotir. Other key officers include: Conall E. Ryan, President, Michael Gavelek, Vice President of Marketing, and David Wolff, Senior Vice President of Development.

Sunburst's brands include: Tenth Planet and Type to Learn. It's HyperStudio brand, earlier purchased from The Learning Company, was sold to Software MacKiev in 2007.