Technology Solution Makes Important Contribution to Ongoing Efforts to Connect Student Data Systems and Transform Education

GILBERT, Ariz., Aug. 4, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Unicon, Inc., a leading technology consulting firm focused solely on the education ecosystem, today announced the release of the Ed-Fi ODS / API deployment for Amazon Web Services (Suite 3). This technology solution allows users to easily deploy a new copy of the Ed-Fi ODS / API to an Amazon Web Services tenant. It enhances interoperability, helping state and local education agencies get up and running with a modern IT architecture quickly, allowing them to make better use of data to support students. It was developed by Unicon in collaboration with the Ed-Fi Alliance, and Amazon Web Services.

The Ed-Fi Data Standard is a widely adopted open-source data standard developed by the educational community. It serves as the foundation for enabling interoperability among secure data systems and contains a unifying data model designed to capture the meaning and inherent structure in the most important information in the K?12 education enterprise. The Ed-Fi Operational Data Store (ODS) provides a secure, transactional information store that integrates data from multiple source systems and applications. The Ed-Fi API accompanies the Ed-Fi Operational Data Store and provides a developer-friendly interface to create, read, and update information.

"With the urgency and uncertainty of supporting students and educators during this public health crisis, connecting student data once and for all is more important than ever." said Dave Mendez, Director of Cloud Services, Unicon. "Institutions and local and state education agencies are benefiting from the scalable nature of cloud infrastructure provided by AWS. The Ed-Fi ODS / API cloud deployment solution takes advantage of recent advancements in AWS deployment methods, resulting in templates that allow for better control of the environment, easier updates, and the concise documentation, while embracing AWS best practices regarding architecture, security, and management."

The Ed-Fi ODS / API deployment solution is a set of cloud formation templates and Lambda functions that reduce the amount of time and effort needed to get a new instance of an Ed-Fi ODS / API up and running. Each deployment follows AWS best practices, providing a secure, highly available, performant, and cost effective solution for end users. The deployment takes just over one hour to complete, and the end user is provided with step-by-step documentation to ensure that the process of launching the solution is easy and efficient for new users of AWS. For more advanced users of AWS, the solution can be launched inside an existing Virtual Private Cloud to easily integrate with existing AWS solutions.

"Educators have more data sources today than ever before, and while more data is valuable, it's not always useful, accessible and secure. That is the fundamental problem we are working to solve with our partners in the Ed-Fi Community," said Chris Moffatt, Vice President of Technology, Ed-Fi Alliance. "Unicon and AWS have completed the technical work to help school districts and states stand up the Ed-Fi ODS / API quickly and securely in a modern cloud environment, which will help educators bring together data they need to support students, especially at this critical time."

About the Ed-Fi Alliance
The Ed-Fi Alliance is a nationwide community of leading educators, technologists, and data advocates connecting student data systems in order to transform education. A not-for-profit organization founded in 2012 by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Ed-Fi aims to boost student achievement by empowering educators with real-time, comprehensive insight into every student.

Ed-Fi technologies streamline data management in school districts and states across the country. By allowing schools to integrate data previously siloed within disconnected tools and software?and organizing it through a single, secure data standard ?Ed-Fi solves one of the country's most perplexing educational challenges: how to get a complete, accurate view of individual student achievement, so that every student can receive the support they need when they need it most.

About Unicon
Unicon is a leading technology consulting firm focused solely on the education ecosystem. We partner with institutions and companies to create learner-centric digital experiences to transform online teaching and learning. We believe in the power of technology to expand access to education, and in the power of education to create a better future for all. Unicon is a community member of the Ed-Fi Alliance, a contributing member of IMS Global Learning Consortium, a Commercial Affiliate of the Apereo Foundation, a Trust and Identity Solution Provider in the Internet2 Industry Program, an Industry Member of Internet2, an InCommon Participant, an Instructure Certified Partner, an Okta Premier Solution Provider, and a GSA Industry Partner and Consolidated Schedule Contract Holder. Unicon is also an AWS Partner Network (APN) Advanced Consulting Partner, has achieved the AWS Education Competency, and is a member of the AWS Public Sector Partner Program. For more information, visit unicon.net.

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SOURCE Unicon, Inc.