Cornerstone legacy product lines are the learning and talent products that came to Cornerstone through acquisition and that keep their own names, support documents and, in some cases, terms. Understanding them matters to a licence manager because a customer may hold a contract with a predecessor entity, written for a product now sold under a different name.
Editions
Saba
Cornerstone announced on 24 February 2020 that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Saba, “a global leader in talent experience solutions and a portfolio company of Vector Capital,” in a cash and stock transaction “valued at approximately $1.395 billion.” The release said the combined company would serve approximately 7,000 organizations and that Cornerstone planned to integrate and optimize the collective portfolio of products over the course of 2020.[1] See Cornerstone agreed to acquire Saba in February 2020. Saba customers have their own customer success package SLA, which repeats the Cornerstone availability text and caps administrators at up to 4 for the Included package.[2] The export controls page classifies Saba Cloud as 5D992 and Saba meeting as 5D002, the only entries on the page that are not EAR99.[3] See Saba (legacy Cornerstone product line).
SumTotal
SumTotal appears in Cornerstone’s October 2022 India press release, which refers to “the recent acquisitions of EdCast and SumTotal.”[4] No separate SumTotal acquisition release was retrieved. See Cornerstone refers to its acquisition of SumTotal in October 2022 and SumTotal (legacy Cornerstone product line). SumTotal keeps its own web site terms, which say that software and documentation are the copyrighted work of SumTotal Systems or its licensors and that the user is “only licensed to use the software subject to certain restrictions contained in the end user license agreement accompanying such software.”[5] See SumTotal software is licensed under the end user licence agreement that accompanies it. The SumTotal Elite customer success package lists up to 10 named administrators.[6]
EdCast
On 16 May 2022 Cornerstone, backed by Clearlake Capital Group, “today announced it has completed its acquisition of EdCast.”[7] See Cornerstone completed the acquisition of EdCast in May 2022. Cornerstone’s CEO described a “commitment to platform-agnostic innovation,” and the release says the company “will roadmap a single-user experience” for customers.[7] EdCast is classified EAR99 on the export controls page.[3]
TalentLink and Saba TalentSpace
TalentLink and Saba TalentSpace each keep their own SLA. TalentLink’s SLA, version 6.5, sets 99.9% availability and four named support contacts, and the export page lists the product as “TalentLink (Lumesse)” with the note that there is no development in the US.[8][3] The Saba TalentSpace SLA sets 99.3% availability.[9] See TalentLink and Saba TalentSpace and the article on SLAs.
Documents by product line
The documents Cornerstone publishes for each line differ in what they state, which is the practical reason to keep them apart when reviewing contracts.
| Line | Document retrieved | Availability commitment | Support access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cornerstone platform (CSX, Galaxy, Learn, Elevate) | Four customer success package SLAs | 99.5% per calendar month | Named Lead Administrators, 4 to 10 |
| Saba | Saba Included and Elite customer success package SLAs; TalentSpace SLA; Talent Acquisition SLA | 99.5% (customer success packages); 99.3% (TalentSpace) | Up to 4 administrators in the Included package |
| SumTotal | Included and Elite customer success package SLAs; SumTotal Systems Terms of Use | 99.5% | Up to 4 (Included) and up to 10 (Elite) administrators |
| TalentLink | Service Level Agreement version 6.5 | 99.9% of Agreed Service Time | Four named contacts |
| Talespin | Talespin SLA | Annual uptime target of at least 99% | Not compared here |
TalentLink’s SLA ranks incidents by four severities. A Severity 1 incident, which is critical production impact affecting all users, gets a response within one hour and continuous 24 x 7 support until resolution or a work-around. Severity 2 gets a response within two Support Hours, Severity 3 within one Support Day and Severity 4 within two Support Days.[8] Scheduled maintenance is Sundays between 00:00 and 05:00 (GMT/BST), and the company may change the window.[8] The Talespin SLA says the company “will use commercially reasonable effort” to meet an annual uptime of at least 99%, and that the SLA continues for a period of one year from the effective date of the software licence agreement it is attached to.[11] A licence manager comparing lines should therefore not assume that one line’s credits, response times or term apply to another.
Ownership of Cornerstone
On 5 August 2021 Cornerstone announced a definitive agreement to be acquired by Clearlake Capital Group, with Clearlake to “acquire the outstanding shares of Cornerstone common stock for $57.50 per share in cash,” an enterprise value of approximately USD 5.2 billion, after which Cornerstone would become a private company.[12] See Clearlake Capital agreed to acquire Cornerstone in August 2021. Later releases describe Cornerstone as “Clearlake Capital-backed.”[7] The retrieved material does not state the closing date of the Clearlake transaction.
Metrics and floors
The legacy lines do not publish licence metrics. The only units in their retrieved documents are the Named Lead Administrator caps in the customer success packages and the four named contacts for TalentLink support.[2][6][8] See Named Lead Administrator (customer success package) and Named Customer contact (TalentLink support). For quantities, a customer must use its own agreement.
Upgrade path
Product pages for Saba and SumTotal invite customers to “Upgrade Saba to Cornerstone Workforce AI” and “Upgrade SumTotal to Cornerstone Workforce AI,” and describe a “Highly scalable data migration approach,” an ecosystem of partners to support change and persona-based training.[13][14] See Upgrade of Saba and SumTotal to Cornerstone Workforce AI and Saba and SumTotal customers are offered an upgrade to Cornerstone Workforce AI. The pages state no price, no term and no conversion rule between the legacy entitlement and the per-employee packages described in the packages article. A customer considering an upgrade should ask how its existing user, learner or module counts convert to an employee count, and whether the old agreement continues in parallel.
Programs and compliance
Public sector agencies can join the XaaS Pilot Program, a 90 day pilot with secure pilot environment options.[15] See Cornerstone XaaS Pilot Program. Cornerstone’s client privacy policy, last updated September 2025, says that the client organization is the data controller and Cornerstone the data processor.[16] The export page was updated 24 August 2023 and should be rechecked before relying on it for a current classification.[3]
Out of scope
This article does not give the terms of any assigned customer agreement, the date Cornerstone completed the Saba or SumTotal transactions, or SkyHive terms. It does not cover Cornerstone’s SEC filings, which ended with the Clearlake transaction.