Unicon Assists Georgia Tech with Transition to Open Source Sakai from Proprietary Learning Management System

Unicon, Inc., the leading independent provider of open source enterprise portals, applications, and professional services for the online campus in academic institutions, today announced it has begun working on the initial phases of a multi-stage project for the Georgia Institute of Technology. The project’s goal is to migrate the university’s students, faculty, and administration from the WebCT Learning Management System to the open Source Sakai Collaboration and Learning Environment for Education. After careful analysis of the technology and service provider options, GA Tech selected Unicon, Inc. to plan, manage, and implement key facets of the project which began in December 2006.

“GA Tech extensively analyzed all of their technology options, future growth needs, and budget concerns before finally deciding to switch from their proprietary software system to the open source Sakai Collaboration and Learning Environment,” said John C. Blakley, CEO of Unicon, Inc. “We believe they made the right choice as the open source Sakai will give them a much lower total cost of ownership, allow them to own and control their own software enhancements, and also allow them to contribute to and participate in the growing and thriving Sakai community.”

Donna C. Llewellyn, Director of the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning at Georgia Tech, added, "We are very excited about the potential that Sakai represents - for us to be able to use the creative technological talents of Georgia Tech to provide innovative solutions to improve educational and research collaborations. Our partnership with Unicon has allowed us to keep to our very aggressive timeline. We look forward to being active contributing members of the larger Sakai community very soon."

About Georgia Technical Institute

Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the nation's top research universities, distinguished by its commitment to improving the human condition through advanced science and technology. Georgia Tech's campus occupies 330 acres in the heart of the vibrant, progressive city of Atlanta, where more than 17,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive a focused, technologically based education. More information is available at: www.gatech.edu/.

About Sakai

The Sakai software is a community source effort to develop a platform for innovation in collaboration, teaching and learning, and research support software. The Sakai Project’s primary goal is to deliver the Sakai application framework and associated course management software (CMS) tools and components that are designed to work together. These components are for course development, delivery, management, and, as an augmentation of the original CMS model, they also support classroom and research collaboration. The software is being designed to be competitive with the best CMSs available. For more information visit: www.sakaiproject.org.