Unicon, Inc., the open source experts for enterprise portals, learning applications and professional services for the online campus in academic institutions, today announced the beginning of its fall Webinar series of 10 presentations about open source applications in education. The presentations will focus on the Sakai Collaboration and Learning Environment, the Zimbra next-generation collaboration and messaging software, and other open source applications, platforms and technologies. Faculty, administrators and IT personnel from higher educational institutions are invited to attend at no charge. The Webinars begin the week of September 24, 2007 and continue through December 10, 2007. The full schedule, dates, descriptions, and registration details can be found at: http://www.unicon.net/company.
Seminars for September 26 and September 27
Title: Upgrade Your Campus Email System - an Introduction to Zimbra -
Part 1 of 3
When: Wednesday, September 26, 2007, 1 p.m. Eastern (10 a.m. Pacific)
Duration: 60 Minutes
Presenters: Viral Kadakia, Director of Product Marketing, Zimbra and
Jim Layne, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Unicon
Title: Sakai Guided Tour
When: Thursday, September 27, 2007, 1 p.m. Eastern (10 a.m. Pacific)
Duration: 60 Minutes
Presenter: Kim Dittlof, Training Manager, Unicon
Growth of Open Source Technologies in Higher Education
As educational institutions face increasing costs of proprietary software licenses and maintenance fees, open source technologies for online campuses and classrooms are rapidly gaining in popularity with higher education. Adding to this trend, recent vendor consolidation in the industry has given institutions even fewer purchase options, and they have very serious choices to make for their long-term future. Open source solutions have been successfully implemented at many of the largest universities and colleges around the nation. Besides reducing dependency on software vendors, open source allows institutions to enhance the software specifically for their needs. Now higher education organizations can implement more sophisticated technology solutions utilizing open-source technologies, reducing their spending budget significantly.
About Unicon
Unicon, Inc. is the leading independent provider of open-source frameworks, applications and professional services for the online campus. Unicon delivers enterprise portal, collaboration, learning and integration technology for higher education institutions worldwide. The company is a Sakai Commercial Affiliate for the community source Collaboration and Learning Environment, and also a commercial affiliate of the uPortal open source Web portal initiative. Unicon strives to base its solutions on open-source technology for increased productivity and reduced costs. Unicon also provides a full complement of professional consulting, training and support services. More information about Unicon, Inc. is available at www.unicon.net.