Edly Cloud is now running on Open edX Ulmo, bringing new capabilities for course authors, learners, administrators, and organizations managing large learning programs.

Ulmo introduces improvements to reusable course content, library permissions, LTI configuration, learner navigation, discussion notifications, platform design, and extensibility. These capabilities are now available as part of the managed Edly Cloud platform.

For existing Edly Cloud clients, moving from the legacy Koa environment to Ulmo is more than a routine software update. It is a one-time infrastructure and data migration in which each client is moved to a new environment and data is transferred between databases.

Edly plans and manages that process, including data transfer, infrastructure setup, service configuration, cutover coordination, and post-migration validation. Clients still have a small but important role in confirming timing, reconnecting certain credentials, reviewing branding changes, and updating links that point to their previous platform addresses.

New Edly Cloud clients do not need to go through the Koa-to-Ulmo transition. They are provisioned directly on the Ulmo-powered platform from the beginning.

Edly Cloud Is Now Powered by Open edX Ulmo: What It Means for Your Learning Platform

Ulmo is the 21st named release of the Open edX platform. It was released in December 2025 and includes improvements across course authoring, reusable content, permissions, integrations, learner engagement, design, and administrative workflows.

Some of its most notable capabilities include:

• Reusable course sections and subsections built through content libraries

• Defined content-library roles for administrators, authors, contributors, and users

• Centrally managed and reusable LTI configurations

• A redesigned Course Home, Content tab, and Progress page

• In-platform and email notifications for discussion activity

• A required design-token system for platform themes

• Additional plugin slots for supported platform extensions

For Edly Cloud clients, supported Ulmo capabilities are already incorporated into the managed platform.

Where Ulmo Sits in the Open edX Release Cycle

Open edX generally works toward a new named release approximately every six months.

The community is currently planning Verawood, which will be the platform’s 22nd named release. Planning meetings are underway, and the community is expected to announce the release date separately. Until Verawood is officially released, Ulmo remains the latest available named Open edX release and the version currently running on Edly Cloud.

The future move from Ulmo to Verawood will not be the same type of project as the current Koa-to-Ulmo migration. Koa-to-Ulmo requires new infrastructure and the transfer of client data between databases. The Verawood upgrade is expected to keep the existing Ulmo infrastructure and client databases in place while updating the application code and applying the required database-schema migrations.

That distinction is important because it makes future platform upgrades significantly simpler than this one-time infrastructure transition.

What Is Edly Cloud?

Edly Cloud is a fully managed Open edX hosting and learning-platform service. It gives organizations access to the flexibility and depth of Open edX without requiring an internal team to operate the infrastructure, deployment processes, security updates, maintenance, and release lifecycle.

An Edly Cloud environment can include:

• The Open edX LMS for delivering courses and learning experiences

• Open edX Studio for course authoring and content management

• A WordPress-powered Discovery Site for presenting and marketing courses

• The Edly Panel for administration, reporting, user management, and platform operations

• Managed hosting, monitoring, maintenance, and support

• Open edX release management

• Branding and theme configuration

• Integration and migration support

Instead of assembling and maintaining these components independently, organizations receive them as part of an integrated, managed learning ecosystem.

What Open edX Ulmo Adds to Edly Cloud

The following capabilities are part of the Ulmo release and are available through the current Edly Cloud platform.

1. Reusable Course Structures Through Content Libraries

Course teams can build full sections and subsections within content libraries and reuse them across multiple courses.

Previously, reusable content often focused on individual components. Ulmo expands this model so that organizations can create larger, structured units of content for example, an onboarding section, a compliance module, or a shared assessment and add them wherever they are needed. Ulmo also introduces synchronization workflows that allow course teams to review library changes before applying them to connected courses.

Why it matters: Organizations can reduce duplicate authoring work, improve consistency across their catalogs, and manage common content more effectively.

2. Clearer Library Roles and Permissions

Ulmo introduces four defined roles for content libraries:

• Library Admin

• Author

• Contributor

• User

Each role has a distinct scope for viewing, editing, publishing, or managing shared content.

Why it matters: Universities, training providers, and organizations with multiple departments can separate administrative control from day-to-day authoring and give each contributor an appropriate level of access.

3. Reusable LTI Configurations

Administrators can configure supported external learning tools centrally and reuse those configurations across courses and components. This reduces the need to enter the same credentials and configuration details repeatedly. Ulmo also achieved LTI Advantage Complete certification.

Why it matters: Centralized configuration can reduce setup time, limit configuration errors, and help organizations standardize approved external tools across their course catalogs.

4. A Redesigned Learner Course Experience

Ulmo introduces a redesigned Course Home, a filtered Content tab, and a dedicated Progress page.

These changes make it easier for learners to understand their current position, return to unfinished work, and review progress within a course. Edly Cloud complements these changes with its themed learner experience and dedicated Open Response Assessment grading interface.

Why it matters: Clearer navigation reduces the effort required to resume learning and creates a more consistent experience across courses and programs.

5. Discussion Notifications

Ulmo adds in-platform and email notifications for discussion activity. Learners and instructors can be notified when conversations they follow receive new replies or updates.

Why it matters: Notifications make discussion activity easier to follow and can help bring participants back into cohort conversations, mentoring exchanges, and instructor-led discussions.

6. A More Consistent Design System

Ulmo requires themes to use design tokens built around Paragon v23. Design tokens provide standardized definitions for elements such as typography, spacing, colors, and interface components.

Edly Cloud is also consolidating its previous four-theme setup into a single Ulmo-compatible theme based on Indigo. This means an existing client theme will not necessarily carry forward without visible changes. Edly will migrate supported branding elements into the consolidated theme, but certain layouts, components, or custom visual treatments may need to be adjusted.

Why it matters: The consolidated theme provides a more maintainable base for future interface improvements, but clients should understand that theme migration is not the same as reproducing every previous customization exactly.

7. More Supported Extension Points

Ulmo adds plugin slots in additional parts of the platform, giving development teams more supported locations for custom functionality.

Why it matters: Organizations with specialized integrations or workflows can extend more areas of the platform without relying as heavily on changes to core Open edX code. This can simplify ongoing maintenance and future code upgrades.

Edly Cloud Capabilities That Complement Ulmo

Some capabilities available on Edly Cloud are part of Edly’s managed platform rather than features introduced specifically by Ulmo. Keeping that distinction clear helps organizations understand what comes from the Open edX release and what Edly adds around it.

Course and Program Commerce

Edly Cloud’s Discovery Site can use WordPress and WooCommerce for course and program purchases. It connects to the LMS through the Open edX Commerce plugin.

Supported payment options can include:

• Stripe

• Authorize.Net

• PayPal

• CyberSource

Payment-card data is collected and processed by the selected payment gateway rather than being stored on Edly’s Open edX servers. The exact PCI DSS requirements and Self-Assessment Questionnaire category depend on the selected gateway and integration method and should be confirmed with the organization’s payment provider or acquirer.

Managed Administration and Operations

Edly Cloud also includes managed infrastructure, platform monitoring, release planning, administrative tools, support, and operational assistance. These services allow organizations to use Open edX without maintaining the underlying hosting and deployment stack independently.

What Existing Edly Cloud Clients Should Expect

Moving an existing Edly Cloud client from Koa to Ulmo is a substantial infrastructure and data migration. It should not be described as an invisible background update.

Why Koa-to-Ulmo Is a Major Migration

During the transition:

• The client moves from Edly’s legacy Koa environment to new Ulmo infrastructure.

• Course, learner, enrollment, and configuration data is transferred between databases.

• The LMS, Studio, and Discovery Site become available at new addresses.

• Services that rely on the previous addresses must be reconfigured.

• The previous Koa environment is retired after a successful cutover.

Moving data between databases and replacing the underlying infrastructure carries risks that do not exist in a routine code update. These can include incomplete transfers, configuration differences, broken references, or unexpected incompatibilities.

Edly reduces these risks through backups, repeatable migration scripts, validation checks, sequential client migrations, and controlled cutover procedures. However, no major data migration should be presented as entirely risk-free.

URL and Domain Changes

The LMS, Studio, and Discovery Site will be reachable at new URLs after migration.

Edly provides the new addresses ahead of the cutover and updates the services it manages that depend on the previous domain, including:

• SSL certificates

• Supported LTI configurations

• Single sign-on settings

• Internal platform references

• Payment-gateway configuration and credential reconnection

Clients are responsible for reviewing systems outside Edly Cloud that may contain hard-coded links to the old addresses.

These can include:

• Email templates

• External websites

• Internal documentation

• Third-party integrations

• Browser bookmarks

• Learning-program communications

Scheduled Downtime

Each migration includes a scheduled downtime window agreed upon with the client in advance. The migration is not performed as an unannounced outage. Edly coordinates the cutover date, confirms the expected interruption, and communicates when the new environment is ready.

Clients should identify blackout periods such as:

• Examinations

• Major enrollment windows

• Scheduled course launches

• Certification deadlines

• High-volume training events

One-Way Cutover

After the client is live on Ulmo and the migration has been validated, the former Koa environment is retired. Because the move is intended to be one-way, Edly performs backups and migration checks before and during cutover. Clients should also complete their required preparation before the scheduled date.

No Interim Environment for Future Migrations

An early migration used an interim environment for client testing before the final cutover. Future client migrations are planned differently. Edly will run the migration during the agreed cutover window without creating a separate interim client environment.

The process therefore relies on standardized migration tooling, pre-cutover preparation, automated validation, backups, and post-migration checks rather than a separate staging sign-off for every client.

What Edly Handles

As part of the managed migration, Edly handles the transfer or reconfiguration of supported platform elements, including:

• Course content and course structures

• Learner accounts

• Enrollment data

• Completion records and certificates

• Supported platform configuration

• Supported LTI tool configuration

• Single sign-on settings

• Billing, coupon, and subscription information

• Infrastructure provisioning

• Certificates and managed domain references

• Cutover execution

• Post-migration validation

Theme and branding elements are moved into Edly’s consolidated Ulmo-compatible theme where supported. Because Edly is reducing four previous themes to one, the resulting appearance may not be identical to the previous environment.

What Clients Need to Do

Clients will need to contribute a limited amount of time to the migration process.

Typical responsibilities include:

• Confirming the migration date and downtime window

• Identifying blackout dates or critical business periods

• Observing a temporary freeze on WordPress or marketing-site edits before cutover

• Reconnecting payment-gateway credentials in the new environment

• Reviewing the migrated branding and theme

• Updating hard-coded links in systems outside Edly Cloud

• Reporting any post-cutover issues through the agreed support channel

Edly provides the relevant instructions and coordinates these activities through the client’s primary Customer Success contact.

How the Migration Process Improves Over Time

Clients are migrated from Koa to Ulmo sequentially rather than all at once. This limits the scope of any unexpected issue and allows the engineering team to apply lessons from one migration to the next.

The process continues to improve as Edly refines:

• Data-transfer scripts

• Validation checks

• Cutover procedures

• Configuration mappings

• Client instructions

• Operational checklists

The goal is not to claim that later migrations will be issue-free. It is to make the process increasingly repeatable, better understood, and easier to manage.

Theme Consolidation: What Clients Should Know

The Ulmo transition includes an important change to Edly Cloud’s theme architecture. Edly is moving from four previous themes to one supported theme based on Indigo and Ulmo’s design-token system.

As a result:

• Existing themes will not simply be copied to Ulmo unchanged.

• Supported logos, colors, typography choices, and other brand elements will be migrated into the consolidated theme.

• Some custom layouts, components, or visual behaviors may change.

• Certain previous customizations may need to be redesigned or may no longer be supported in the same form.

• All clients will move onto a more consistent theme foundation for future platform updates.

This consolidation reduces long-term theme-maintenance complexity and makes future Open edX interface upgrades easier to support. It also requires clients to review the updated appearance rather than assume that every visual detail will remain identical.

What New Edly Cloud Clients Receive

Organizations joining Edly Cloud now start directly on the Ulmo-powered platform. They are not provisioned on the legacy Koa infrastructure and therefore do not need to complete the same Koa-to-Ulmo migration.

Depending on the organization’s requirements, onboarding can include:

• Open edX platform setup

• Course and content migration

• Learner-account migration

• Enrollment migration

• Brand configuration

• Discovery Site setup

• Administrative configuration

• Commerce and enrollment workflows

• Integration planning

• Reporting setup

• Platform training and support

After launch, supported Open edX code upgrades are managed through the Edly Cloud platform lifecycle.

Migrating From a Self-Hosted Open edX Platform

Organizations that currently operate Open edX internally can also migrate to Edly Cloud. The objective is to preserve the organization’s existing investment in courses, content, users, integrations, and branding while transferring responsibility for the underlying platform to Edly.

Depending on the source environment, migration planning may cover:

• Courses and course structures

• Learner accounts

• Enrollment records

• Completion data and certificates

• Existing themes

• Platform configuration

• LTI tools

• Third-party integrations

• Commerce workflows

• Reporting requirements

• Custom Open edX functionality

The exact scope depends on the source release, deployment architecture, data quality, custom code, and integration model. A self-hosted migration should therefore begin with a technical assessment rather than a one-size-fits-all estimate.

Koa-to-Ulmo Migration vs. Future Open edX Upgrades

The Koa-to-Ulmo transition and the future Ulmo-to-Verawood upgrade are fundamentally different.

Koa to Ulmo

The current transition involves:

• Moving clients to new infrastructure

• Transferring data between databases

• Changing platform URLs

• Reconfiguring dependent services

• Consolidating themes

• Migrating clients individually

• Retiring the previous Koa environment

Because both the infrastructure and client data are moving, this is a significant migration that requires careful planning and risk management.

Ulmo to Verawood

The future Verawood upgrade is expected to involve:

• Keeping the existing Ulmo infrastructure

• Keeping each client’s existing database environment

• Updating the Open edX application code

• Applying required database-schema migrations

• Validating the updated platform

• Rolling out the release to all Edly Cloud clients together

It will not require transferring each client’s data into a different database or rebuilding the infrastructure again.

For that reason, Edly expects the Verawood upgrade to be smoother, simpler, and substantially lower risk than the Koa-to-Ulmo migration.

Edly Cloud vs. a Self-Hosted Open edX Upgrade

The Business Value of Running Ulmo on Edly Cloud

The value of Ulmo on Edly Cloud is not limited to the individual features in the release. It also comes from how those capabilities are delivered and maintained.

• Less Infrastructure Work: Internal teams do not need to operate Open edX servers, deployment tooling, databases, and monitoring systems independently.
• Managed Release Planning: Open edX changes become part of a managed platform roadmap rather than an unexpected internal engineering project.
• A More Maintainable Theme Foundation: The consolidated theme reduces the number of theme variants that must be maintained across future Open edX interface changes.
• Support for Course Teams: Authors and administrators receive supported platform features that have already been incorporated into the Edly Cloud environment.
• More Time for Learning Programs: Organizations can direct more attention toward course quality, learner engagement, program growth, and measurable learning outcomes rather than the infrastructure underneath the platform.

Who Should Consider Edly Cloud?

Edly Cloud may be suitable for:

• Universities and higher education institutions

• Corporate learning and development teams

• Professional training providers

• Government and public-sector learning programs

• Nonprofit and international development organizations

• Associations and certification providers

• Customer and partner education teams

• Organizations currently self-hosting Open edX

• Teams launching a new branded learning platform

• Organizations that need a scalable managed learning environment

It is especially relevant for organizations that want the flexibility of Open edX but do not want every major platform change to become a separate internal infrastructure project.

Looking Ahead to Verawood

Verawood is being planned as the next named Open edX release. Community planning meetings are underway, and its release date will be announced separately.

The move to Verawood should not be described as another version of the Koa-to-Ulmo migration. By the time Edly Cloud upgrades to Verawood, clients will already be running on the current Ulmo infrastructure. Their databases will remain in the same environment, and no client-by-client transfer into new infrastructure is expected.

Edly will instead update the platform code and apply the database-schema migrations required by the new release. The upgrade is expected to be rolled out to all clients together.

Because there will be no repeat of the infrastructure replacement and client-data transfer required for Koa-to-Ulmo, Edly expects the Verawood upgrade to be a much more straightforward platform update.

Move to Open edX Ulmo Without Managing the Migration Alone

Open edX Ulmo introduces meaningful improvements for course authors, learners, administrators, and organizations managing large learning ecosystems.

These improvements include:

• Reusable course sections and subsections

• More structured library permissions

• Reusable LTI configurations

• Clearer learner navigation

• Discussion notifications

• A standardized design-token system

• More supported platform-extension points

For existing Edly Cloud clients, reaching Ulmo requires a significant but one-time infrastructure and data migration from Koa. Edly manages that process while remaining transparent about its risks, URL changes, downtime, theme consolidation, and client responsibilities.

New clients start directly on Ulmo without passing through the legacy environment. Organizations currently operating Open edX independently can also work with Edly to assess and migrate their existing platform into a managed environment.

Future releases such as Verawood will follow a different and simpler path: the infrastructure and client databases will remain in place while Edly updates the platform code and applies the required database-schema changes.

To discuss an existing Edly Cloud migration, a move from a self-hosted Open edX platform, or a new managed learning environment, contact the Edly team.

Ready to Experience Open edX Without the Operational Burden?

Build, manage, and scale your learning platform with Edly Cloud without taking on the complexity of infrastructure, maintenance, migrations, and platform upgrades. Start your free trial and explore a fully managed Open edX environment powered by Ulmo.

 Try Edly Cloud for Free.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Edly Cloud already running Open edX Ulmo?

Yes. Edly Cloud is running the Ulmo release, and supported Ulmo capabilities are available on the managed platform.

Is Ulmo the latest released Open edX version?

Ulmo is currently the latest available named Open edX release. Verawood is being planned as the next named release, but it has not yet been officially released.

Will our URLs change when we move from Koa to Ulmo?

Yes. The LMS, Studio, and Discovery Site will be available at new addresses on the Ulmo infrastructure. Edly provides the new URLs and updates the supported platform-side services that depend on the previous domain. Clients must update links held in external systems, communications, integrations, and bookmarks.

Is the Koa-to-Ulmo migration risk-free?

No major infrastructure and data migration is entirely risk-free. Moving data between databases can introduce risks such as incomplete transfers, configuration differences, or broken references. Edly reduces those risks through backups, repeatable migration scripts, validation checks, sequential client migrations, and controlled cutovers.

Will every client receive a staging environment before migration?

No. An early migration used an interim environment, but future client migrations are planned to run during the agreed cutover window without a separate interim client environment.

Do existing clients need to purchase the Ulmo migration separately?

No separate platform-upgrade purchase is required. Edly schedules and runs the supported migration as part of the Edly Cloud service. Clients are contacted in advance to coordinate the cutover and complete any required preparation.

Will new Edly Cloud clients start on Ulmo?

Yes. New clients are provisioned directly on the Ulmo-powered Edly Cloud platform rather than on the legacy Koa environment.

Do we need to rebuild our theme after the migration?

Edly Cloud is consolidating four previous themes into one Ulmo-compatible theme based on Indigo. Edly will migrate supported branding elements into the consolidated theme, but an existing theme may not carry forward unchanged. Some layouts, components, or custom visual treatments may need to be adjusted.

Will our branding remain exactly the same?

Not necessarily. Core brand elements such as supported logos, colors, and typography settings can be transferred, but some visual differences may appear because all clients are moving to one standardized theme foundation.

Does Ulmo improve reusable course content?

Yes. Ulmo expands content libraries to support complete sections and subsections, along with workflows for reviewing and synchronizing changes across connected courses.

Does Ulmo include better content-library permissions?

Yes. Ulmo introduces the Library Admin, Author, Contributor, and User roles, giving organizations more control over who can manage, edit, publish, or use shared content.

Can LTI configurations be reused across courses?

Yes. Ulmo provides a central LTI configuration store that allows supported configurations to be reused across courses and components.

Does Edly Cloud support course commerce?

Yes. Edly Cloud can use WordPress and WooCommerce, connected to the LMS through the Open edX Commerce plugin, to support course and program purchases. Payment-card data is handled by the selected payment gateway rather than stored on Edly’s Open edX servers.

Can Edly migrate an existing self-hosted Open edX platform?

Yes. Edly can assess and support migrations from self-hosted or independently managed Open edX environments. The migration scope depends on the source release, data, courses, users, themes, integrations, custom code, commerce workflows, and reporting requirements.

Will the Verawood upgrade be another infrastructure migration?

No. The planned Ulmo-to-Verawood upgrade is expected to retain the existing infrastructure and client databases. Edly will update the platform code and apply the required database-schema migrations rather than transferring client data into another environment.

Will Verawood be rolled out one client at a time?

Unlike the Koa-to-Ulmo migration, the Verawood code upgrade is expected to be rolled out to all Edly Cloud clients together.

Are future Open edX upgrades included in Edly Cloud?

Supported Open edX upgrades are managed as part of the Edly Cloud platform lifecycle. The exact schedule and scope of each upgrade depend on the release, compatibility requirements, and Edly’s validation process.