Common Need, Inc.

There are lots of Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) providers that have appeared on the landscape over the past several years focused primarily on customer relationship management or rich internet application languages on top of a database. There are also a plethora of definitions for just what is a PaaS offering.

So let's be clear; CommonNeed is the only PaaS provider solely focused on the needs of Education. Our approach is multifaceted. First, we are establishing a vibrant ecosystem of application components and a skilled community of developers. This enables us to meet our customer needs by having a near the mark solution in some form which requires only customization to meet the particular needs. Second, the plugjam platform leverages open APIs and open industry standards. We did not create a proprietary language that locks you into the platform or require you to develop an entirely new in-house skill set to deliver functionality. We chose to be open and extensible to attract developers to develop custom applications as part of our plugjam ecosystem. Third, we strive to keep costs low for our customers and even provide a path to generating revenue for our customers (more on this in 2010).

CommonNeed's plugjam Platform combines several capabilities that will improve the way you develop and deliver applications over traditional education software development methods.

1. An open development environment philosophy that dramatically reduces development time by allowing you to use your tools in which you are already skilled and focus on your user experience and key functionality.
2. Integration adapters, open APIs and open Industry Standards allow you to weave your applications into your existing infrastructure and build dynamic web capabilities for your needs.
3. Advanced capabilities to support business intelligence, semantic web functionality, intelligent data discovery, social interaction, data analysis, single sign-on, search, and much more.
4. A comprehensive, application independent, data model for education providing an extensive picture of data items presently used in education which characterizes their logical inter-relation.
5. State-of-the-art platform with all of the complex mechanisms needed to deliver secure, reliable and scalable applications running on an industrial-strength robust infrastructure. Education developers can build their applications more quickly by focusing on the features and functions, rather than worrying about the fundamental architecture and infrastructure the applications run on.

Benefits of using plugjam PAAS for your Institution

1. Rapid Development: By enabling your application designers and software engineers to focus on meeting software requirements rather than dealing with the low-level details of providing a complex system and leveraging the already built-in capabilities of plugjam, you can substantially reduce your overall development times^*.
2. Applications Your Way on Your Schedule: No more waiting on the next release in hopes that it will include the features you need. You can make application changes in record time, with maximum customizability. Using, sharing and deploying education applications has never been as easy as with plugjam. By leveraging a common framework for all your applications based upon open APIs, and open industry standards provided in plugjam means your user community will see faster delivery on their requirements.
3. On Demand: Delivered as a service, and hosted in CommonNeed's highly secure hosting facility, your platform and applications are always available. No servers to maintain, no software to install, no development requirements to set up – all you and your users need is a browser and an Internet connection.
4. You are in Control: With plugjam's open structure there is less chance of being locked in by a specific technology and/or vendor, the skills you already have can be utilized to develop applications with less re-training of staff, you have better protection against obsolescence of your applications, and it is easier for systems from different parties or using different technologies to interoperate and communicate with one another.
5. Flexible Integration: Using plugjam’s standards based integration capabilities, such as a REST API, pre-built applications, integration Adapters, and unique features, you are able to leverage existing applications and IT investments.
6. Real Applications for Education: plugjam was designed as a enterprise class application platform specifically for meeting the challenges of education software development. A robust security model, a comprehensive education data model, scalable infrastructure and proven platform architecture give you the confidence to run your key applications on plugjam.
7. Affordable With Low Upfront Investment: Building totally customized applications to run your Institution has never been more affordable. CommonNeed’s approach of zero investment, low annual subscription fee per user, and rapid customization capabilities give you access to robust education applications without the steep price tag.

Find out more about how plugjam helps you deliver powerful and engaging learning experiences.

^*Of course in the spirit of full disclousre, like using any development framework, these benefits are realized after your developers are familiar with the APIs and capabilities of the platform.