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Outsourcing cloud initiatives offers businesses a strategic way to achieve cost efficiency, scalability, and enhanced infrastructure reliability. Whether you're aiming to optimize resources, improve performance, or future-proof your operations, the right cloud services can transform your business.

At Unicon, our cloud management services are led by an AWS Lead Subject Matter Expert—one of only 20 in the world and one of just five external to AWS. With deep expertise in cloud strategy, architecture, and automation, we ensure that your migration and cloud infrastructure are secure, reliable, and cost-effective.

Let us help you innovate and scale your business in the cloud—efficiently, securely, and with expertise you can trust.

Table of Contents

Cloud Strategy & Migration
Cloud Architecture, Innovation & Optimization
Security, Compliance & Specialized Expertise

Cloud Strategy & Migration

Building Your Hybrid IT Strategy with Cloud Integrations

Organizations are increasingly turning to a hybrid cloud model, which combines on-premises IT with cloud resources to enhance data sharing and address challenges that traditional IT systems can't easily solve. Our eBook, Building Your Hybrid Cloud Strategy, explores the benefits of this approach, offering practical insights on optimizing hybrid architectures. Learn about the most widely used AWS services in hybrid environments, key use cases, and customer best practices to successfully implement your own hybrid strategy.

Cloud Migration Strategy: The Cloud Migration Assessment Framework

Migrating to the Cloud offers many benefits, but knowing where to start can be challenging. Proper planning is key, whether you’re moving one workload or your entire IT system. Common obstacles include building a business case, ensuring security, and addressing operational readiness. The free AWS Cloud Adoption Readiness Tool (CART), based on the Cloud Migration Assessment Framework, can help. This 16-question survey assesses your cloud readiness across critical areas and provides a customized report with actionable insights, helping you get started on your cloud journey with confidence.

Cloud Migration Strategy: The Timing is Always Right

The Cloud is a critical part of modern IT, but deciding how to move forward with a cloud migration strategy can be overwhelming, especially with so many options and tools available. Whether you're already using cloud services or just getting started, it’s important to align your migration efforts with your organization’s mission and goals. Many institutions benefit from the Cloud’s scalability, cost savings, and built-in tools for data analysis, but the key is to start where you are. Whether you’re tackling specific problems or exploring low-risk options, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.

Cloud Migration Strategy: Trust You're Ready, Then Perform a Migration

You’ve planned your cloud migration and ensured your team has the right skills, but sometimes the process stalls due to uncertainty about the plan’s success. Remember, no two cloud migrations are the same, and your strategy is unique to your needs. Challenges will arise, and that’s okay—it’s part of the process. Successful migrations involve testing, refining, and adapting the plan as you go. Tools like AWS Migration Hub and Server Migration Service can help streamline your efforts. Trust your plan, stay flexible, and don’t hesitate to seek expert advice. The benefits of a successful cloud migration are worth the journey.

Steps on the Cloud Migration Journey Webcast

Join cloud experts from Unicon, Lafayette College, and Olympic College in this free webcast as they share insights and best practices for successful cloud migration in higher education. Learn from real-world case studies, explore AWS capabilities, and discover tools to help you plan and execute a smooth transition to the cloud. Whether you're just starting or refining your strategy, this session will equip you with the knowledge to navigate your cloud migration journey.

AWS Public Sector Partner Unicon Completes Migration Specialty Program

Unicon, an AWS Public Sector Partner, has successfully completed the AWS Migration Specialty Program, enhancing its cloud services and solutions. This achievement follows a four-month collaboration with AWS, during which Unicon’s teams underwent extensive training to specialize in AWS migration best practices. With this certification, Unicon strengthens its ability to support clients in higher education and the public sector in their cloud migration journeys. Looking ahead, Unicon is pursuing the AWS Migration Competency to further expand its expertise and continue delivering reliable, secure, and cost-effective cloud solutions.

Cloud Architecture, Innovation & Optimization

System Architecture: Traditional and Serverless CMS Approaches

If you’re starting a new project or facing limitations with your current solutions, you may be considering serverless CMS architectures and cloud-native technologies. Serverless models reduce costs by offering "pay-per-use" services, eliminating the need for always-on servers. While serverless requires a shift in mindset, it can enhance flexibility and scalability. At Unicon, we help you navigate these options and find the right balance between traditional and serverless approaches to meet your project’s needs.

Serverless Content Delivery and AWS Automated DevOps

Unicon helped a leading social networking company build a serverless, scalable platform for global developer communities. Using AWS services like Lambda, CloudFront, and Cognito, the solution delivers curated content at scale, with secure user management and real-time analytics. A fully automated DevOps pipeline sped up development, enabling rapid deployment and innovation, while AWS’s infrastructure ensures high performance, security, and compliance.

AWS ECS Auto Scaling (Part 1)

Setting up scaling for an ECS cluster involves configuring both EC2 instance resources and the container resources defined in ECS tasks. By leveraging services like ECS, EC2 Auto Scaling, ECS Service Auto Scaling, and CloudWatch, you can create a system where containers scale based on resource usage, such as CPU or memory utilization. This allows your ECS service to dynamically adjust container count to handle varying loads, ensuring optimal performance without overloading the cluster.

Implement Cost Optimization in AWS

Managing costs in AWS can be challenging, especially as cloud usage grows. Clients often face rising bills due to the ease of launching resources without optimizing their usage. To address this, AWS cost optimization should go beyond just shutting down unused resources. It involves strategically applying AWS tools and best practices, such as Savings Plans, right-sizing, and using lifecycle policies, to reduce costs over time. The FUMI methodology—Find, Understand, Monitor, and Identify—helps clients identify where money is being spent, apply cost-saving measures, monitor spending, and plan for long-term cost efficiency. Implementing such practices can significantly lower AWS bills while ensuring resources are used efficiently and sustainably.

Learning Technology Tools: Achieve Reliability while Reducing Cost

De La Salle University in the Philippines uses AWS to optimize its Sakai LMS, addressing challenges like variable usage and cost inefficiencies. Unicon implemented a scalable, secure infrastructure with AWS services like EC2 auto-scaling, Reserved Instances, and multi-AZ databases. Enhanced security via IAM and CloudWatch monitoring strengthens the system’s reliability. By leveraging AWS learning technology tools, De La Salle ensures a more efficient, secure LMS, enabling faculty and administrators to focus on delivering quality education without infrastructure concerns.

Security, Compliance & Specialized Expertise

Unicon Achieves ISO / IEC 27001: 2013 Certification

Unicon has achieved ISO 27001:2013 certification across its professional services, cloud services, and company operations. This international standard ensures the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data and systems. To earn the certification, Unicon demonstrated the implementation of 114 security controls to manage and mitigate information security risks. Marquess Lewis, Unicon's CTO, emphasized that this certification strengthens the company's ability to protect customer data, especially sensitive student information, providing confidence in their robust security program.

Open Source Web SSO in the Cloud

Unicon helped a higher education client migrate their Open Source SSO systems (Shibboleth and CAS) from on-premises to the AWS Cloud. Faced with staffing and maintenance challenges, the client needed scalability, reliability, and cost savings. The migration was done in phases: first moving SAML services, then integrating Office365, and finally transitioning CAS. Unicon now manages the entire cloud-based Open Source SSO infrastructure, providing ongoing support, scalability, and cost-efficiency. The client enjoys fixed yearly costs and reduced internal staffing needs, with Unicon ensuring high uptime and seamless operations.

Unicon’s David Mendez Designated Lead AWS SME

Unicon announced that David Mendez, Director of Cloud Services and Principal Architect, has been named a Lead Subject Matter Expert (SME) by Amazon Web Services (AWS). This prestigious recognition is part of AWS’s new Certification Lead SME program, designed for experts who demonstrate exceptional knowledge and contributions to AWS. As one of only twenty selected globally, David will enhance his expertise through additional training, sharing insights to help professionals and students deepen their AWS skills. This recognition underscores Unicon’s continued leadership in cloud technology, aligning with the firm’s focus on advancing education through innovative cloud solutions.

CloudFormation: Support Your International User Base

Unicon helped Cambridge University Press (CUP) migrate its Cambridge Learning Management System (CLMS) to AWS, addressing scalability, cost, and security challenges. By using AWS tools like CloudFormation and auto-scaling, Unicon accelerated feature deployment and optimized infrastructure costs. Security was enhanced with AWS IAM, CloudWatch, and CloudTrail for compliance and monitoring. The result is a highly scalable, cost-efficient, and secure CLMS platform, enabling CUP to innovate faster while reducing operational costs.

Open Source Analytics in the Cloud Support National Course Outcomes

Unicon partnered with Jisc to develop the Learning Analytics Service for UK Higher Education, focusing on improving student retention and success through Open Source Analytics. Using AWS tools like Elastic MapReduce, CloudFormation, and Data Pipeline, Unicon built an agile, scalable environment for predictive data models that identified at-risk students. This enabled timely interventions to boost retention and attainment. The cloud-based solution reduced infrastructure costs by provisioning resources on-demand and ensured security and compliance with GDPR and DPA regulations. By leveraging AWS, Jisc accelerated innovation, reduced costs, and enhanced data security while supporting educational outcomes with open-source analytics solutions.

Power Teaching and Learning: Open Source Digital Repository on AWS

Unicon partnered with AWS to enhance the openEQUELLA digital repository, used by educational institutions to manage and deliver content. By utilizing EFS, RDS, and S3, Unicon ensured scalable storage, high performance, and robust security for multi-terabyte content. This AWS-based solution improved access, security, and cost efficiency, addressing the complex needs of content management and delivery while meeting compliance requirements. Unicon, an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner, leveraged its cloud expertise to optimize openEQUELLA’s performance and operations.

The Unicon Team

Unicon is a leading technology consulting firm focused solely on the education ecosystem with more than 30 years' of experience partnering with institutions and companies to create learner-centric digital experiences that transform the Learner Journey. Organizations leverage our domain expertise across numerous disciplines, including technology evaluations, identity and access management, data optimization, learning analytics, systems interoperability, learning experience design, application development, cloud services, and open source support. 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.

Cloud services

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