Edustructures Unveils Mission to Deliver Comprehensive Application Integration Platform, a First in K-12
New software based on the Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) will dramatically reduce time
required for data sharing across diverse applications and help schools qualify for billions in
federal funds under newly enacted "No Child Left Behind" legislation
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Salt Lake City, Utah, February 28 2002 -- Edustructures, the education industry's first independent
application integration platform provider, announced today its mission to bring enterprise-grade
integration solutions to America's K-12 school districts. Edustructures provides integration
solutions utilizing the Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF), an open standard for K-12
application and data connectivity.
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The impact of an Edustructures SIFWorks® implementation on the district and its schools
should be profound. Multiple databases, once fragmented across the enterprise will be united;
users, once forced to enter and maintain redundant data in several separate applications will
be able to work seamlessly in multiple applications simultaneously. Reports that today can
require over 500 man-hours to produce, will be able to be completed in a fraction of the time.
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"What we really need today is a solution to integrate individual applications that directly
reduces the time-consuming and costly amount of manual manipulation behind-the-scenes," says
Bailey Mitchell, Executive Director of Technology Services at Georgia's Forsyth County School
District, one of the nation's fastest growing. "Our school district runs on multiple
information systems that includes student information, transportation, food service and
library systems all with their own independent database, account structure and reporting
tools. Integrating these systems will have a direct impact on improving the efficiency of our
district."
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Edustructures, based in Salt Lake City, Utah was co-founded by Jeff Jones, previously one of
the original founders of Campus Pipeline, the leading web-based integration platform and
portal for higher education. "Our experience at Campus Pipeline demonstrated the enormous
value of integrating disparate information systems in the educational enterprise," says Jones.
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A key to Edustructures' success will be the education community's new open connectivity
standard, the Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF). An initiative of over 120
participating administrative application vendors, school systems and educational organizations,
SIF is an industry-supported technical blueprint for interoperability and data access,
enabling diverse applications to interact and share data seamlessly. "When we learned of
Edustructures' plans to focus on integration in the K-12 market using SIF we were very excited,"
says Tim Magner, Director of SIF. "The SIF initiative is gaining momentum and our members are
beginning to leverage the value of open interoperability standards. But schools need
implemented solutions based on those standards and Edustructures is well positioned to make
this happen."
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The Edustructures SIFWorks® platform is comprised of three components: an enterprise-
class Zone Integration Server (ZIS), an Agent Server, and an Agent Developer Kit (ADK).
Delivered on-site or centrally hosted, with professional integration services, Edustructures'
SIFWorks platform is capable of integrating any group of SIF-compliant applications
into a single, integrated, enterprise computing solution.
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"But it's not just about saving money," says Jones. "It's about easily getting accurate and
timely data, from existing applications into the right hands so that the capable and dedicated
people who teach and those who support them can focus on what matters most - educating our
children."
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About Edustructures
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Edustructures develops software infrastructure and comprehensive integration solutions built
upon the Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) standard for K-12 school districts and state
Departments of Education. Edustructures is the first company dedicated to delivering an
independent enterprise integration platform built on the SIF standard. Through its SIFWorks®
integration platform, comprehensive professional services and relationships with technology
vendors, Edustructures connects the systems that power education. For more information, visit
www.edustructures.com
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About SIF
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The Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) is an initiative driven by K-12 education technology
providers and users to revolutionize the management and accessibility of data within schools and
school districts. SIF will enable diverse applications to interact and share data efficiently,
reliably and securely regardless of the platform hosting the applications. SIF has united over
one-hundred and twenty education technology providers in an unprecedented effort to give teachers
more time to do what they do best: teach. For more information, visit
www.sifinfo.org
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For more information, please contact:
Edustructures LLC
Sandra Richards, 1.877.790.1261 Extension 438
news@edustructures.com
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