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Open Source Projects

Sakai, uPortal, Central Authenticaion Service (CAS), Shibboleth, and Zimbra have gained significant momentum as open source alternatives to proprietary software within higher education. Proprietary software is becoming obsolete with its steep licensing prices, forced upgrades, and escalating support costs. Open source eliminates licensing fees and puts an end to vendor lock-in, yet offers control and flexibility with community-derived upgrades and enhancements. Determining the right fit and having the confidence that comes with professional support are two of the major challenges facing open source today.

Unicon solutions are based on open source and community source technologies to increase productivity while keeping development costs low. More than a simple provider of open source solutions, Unicon participates and contributes as an active community member.

Open Source Projects

Sakai

Sakai is a Collaboration and Learning Environment for higher education. As a Sakai Commercial Affiliate, Unicon provides services and support to make Sakai a successful part of your online campus. To learn more about Unicon's services for Sakai, click here.

uPortal

uPortal by Jasig is an enterprise portal built for higher education by higher education. As a founding member of the uPortal community and Jasig Commerical Affiliate, Unicon provides services and support to make uPortal the key to your online campus. To learn more about Unicon's services for uPortal, click here.

Central Authentication Service (CAS)

CAS by Jasig is an enterprise authentication service for institutions that wish to create a secure way for users to access multiple services with a single sign-on. Whether you are deploying CAS in Sakai or whether you have an existing web or email application and want to integrate CAS as a single sign-on solution, Unicon can help. To learn more about Unicon's services for CAS, click here.

Shibboleth

Shibboleth is a standards based, open source software package for web single sign-on across or within organizational boundaries. Shibboleth offers a way for users to access multiple services with a federated single sign-on framework. Unicon is offering Shibboleth services which help you integrate Shibboleth with multiple applications including uPortal and Sakai. To learn more about Unicon's services for Shibboleth, click here.

Unicon is an Industry Member of Internet2.  Shibboleth is a open source project of the Internet2 Middleware Initiative.

Zimbra

Zimbra is the leader in open source, next-generation collaboration and messaging software. As a Zimbra Value-Added Reseller, Unicon has partnered with Zimbra to offer you direct sales and implementation, ASP hosted solutions, and dedicated hosted solutions. To learn more about Unicon's services for Zimbra, click here.

Toro

Toro is Unicon’s open source channels and portlets for the uPortal project. Extend the functionality of uPortal with these commercial-grade tools.

Vendor Partner Options

While Unicon believes in open source solutions, we do not turn our back on closed-source options. As higher education institutions have a mixture of open source and closed-source needs, Unicon has partnered with vendors to provide you with the right solution.

Download Brochure

Unicon Brochure  Download Unicon Services for uPortal  Download here

 

The Power of Open Source

While the most prominent appeal of open source is that it is a low cost alternative to proprietary software, there are many other advantages to adopting open source technologies:

  • Avoids vendor lock-in
  • Easy to customize
  • Promotes collaboration and innovation among peers
  • Achieves economies of scale with community-based sharing and contribution
  • Supports project, team, and code transparency
  • Allows wide range of uses with open licensing