Date: Fri, 9 Apr 1999 00:32:08 -0400 (EDT)
From: Evan Leibovitch <evan@telly.org>
To: Evan Leibovitch <evan@telly.org>
Subject: Linux Certification Gains Industry Support




   LINUX CERTIFICATION ORGANIZATION GAINS WIDESPREAD INDUSTRY SUPPORT



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

April 9, 1999 -- The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) today announced
the creation of an advisory body representing some of the most important
players in the Linux field. The purpose of this group is to assist the LPI
in its efforts to create a definitive Linux certification program.

The LPI Advisory Council's initial members are (alphabetically by company):

Allan Smart        Caldera Systems       Director of Education Services
Jim Dennis         Linux Gazette         "The Answer Guy"
Jon "maddog" Hall  Linux International   Executive Director
Phil Hughes        Linux Journal         Publisher
Dave Sifry         Linuxcare             Chief Technology Officer
Mark Bolzern       LinuxMall             President
Nancy Maragioglio  New Riders Publishing Editor
Lonn Johnston      Pacific HiTech        VP North American Operations
Donnie Barnes      Red Hat Software      Director of Technical Programs
David Conran       SAGE/Usenix           Member, Certification Committee
Marc Torres        SuSE Inc.             President
Patrick Volkerding Slackware             Principal Developer
Alan Fedder        UniForum              President

"This is a milestone in the development of a comprehensive Linux
certification effort," said LPI Executive Director Evan Leibovitch.
"As well as all of the top Linux companies, we also have involvement
from publishers, as well as user associations such as UniForum and SAGE.
This level of community input is critical to a successful program."

The Advisory Council will assist the LPI in the creation of an extensive
three-level professional certification program, which is scheduled to
deliver its first exams in the third quarter of 1999.

"This group has been collected because we actively want their advice,"
Leibovitch said. "Beyond simply endorsing our effort, everyone who
has agreed to be on the Advisory Council knows that we need their
participation. It's important to everyone in the LPI that our program
reflects and satisfies the diverse needs of the Linux community."
                                                         
LPI Chair Dan York, who was involved in the recruitment of many of the
Advisory Council members, said he was "amazed" by the response of the
vendors he approached. "It's clear that Linux-related companies understand
the benefits of having a community-wide certification rather than each of
them doing it themselves."

York said a number of other companies will be joining the Advisory Council
in the near future. "We're now being contacted regularly by companies
wanting to know more about Linux certification. The interest is very
high."

According to York, another indication of interest in the LPI's
certification program was an unexpectedly high response to a call for
participation in a survey. "We expected a few hundred people to
participate -- so far, we've had more than a thousand."

The survey, available online at http://www.lpi.org/cgi-bin/jass.py was
designed by LPI Exam Development Director Scott Murray, to study what
tasks Linux system administrators need to know and do.  Since its launch
April 1, the LPI has collected more than 1,900 completed surveys.

The LPI is a non-profit organization, started as a community effort in
October 1998, and now has more than 200 participants. For more
information, please check the LPI web site at http://www.lpi.org.


Contacts:

Evan Leibovitch, Executive Director
(905) 452-0926
evan@starnix.com

Dan York, Board Chair
(415) 740-4519
dyork@linuxcare.com

Web: http://www.lpi.org