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Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 14:16:36 +0100
To: davef@gbdirect.co.uk
From: Julie Riach 
Subject: PRESS RELEASE: GBdirect Delivers UK's Largest Ever Linux
  Training Programme?

Release Date: 11th August, 1999.

PLANET TAKES LINUX LEAD WITH GBDirect

GBdirect and Planet Online, both leading players in the European market for
Linux skills and services, today announced what is believed to be the UK's
biggest ever Linux training programme. Over the next six weeks, 60 delegates
from Planet Online will attend GBdirect's basic, intermediate and advanced
courses in Linux Systems Administration.  The students will be engineers and
technical staff from Planet's Leeds headquarters, the home of Freeserve, and
already the greatest concentration of Linux expertise in Europe.

Dave Fisher, Head of Business Development at GBdirect, made it clear that he
saw the programme as more than just a for-money contract. He commented: "A
few weeks ago I saw a full-page article in the IT press, proclaiming no
commercial demand for Linux training.  Linux specialists, like ourselves and
Planet, know that's nonsense, but we need big projects like this to get the
wider IT community to wake-up and smell the bacon."  According to him,
GBdirect's Linux training has already expanded beyond small in-house
projects, into large and public events like this and their forthcoming
courses on integrating Linux with Windows/NT.

Planet's staff are already amongst the most skilled and experienced users of
Linux and UNIX, as David Earnshaw, HR director at Planet explains: "We are
committing our staff to this programme because we want to maintain our
leadership in this field. There is demand and we need to meet it with a high
level of expertise and support.  We want to ensure that we are all speaking
the same dialect of UNIX and that every one of us is up-to-date on the very
latest developments in Linux administration."

If Planet's enthusiasm and response to the Linux training is anything to go
by, the company will be difficult to beat in the skills arena. Within hours
of announcing the proposed training, all of GBdirect's courses were so
over-subscribed that they are going to be repeated at least once and
possibly twice.

CTEC, the national IT training provider, is both hosting the series and
providing its Leeds training centre for the training programme.


NOTES TO EDITORS

ABOUT GBDIRECT LIMITED

GBdirect are Europe's leading specialists in Linux training and are
providers of blue-chip E-commerce consultancy.  During 1999 they have helped
Dell, Compaq and IBM with their European Linux projects and are currently
working with government and the leading Linux distributors, SUSE and Red
Hat, to develop certified Linux training across the continent.  Consultants
from GBdirect have been key-note speakers on Linux and E-commerce at the
leading national conferences (e.g. ComDEF, Linux '99, etc), have written
definitively, and provide press/commercial briefings on these emerging
markets.  Other current clients include Creda, Wessex Water, Bryant Homes,
BSS and Hawke Systems.  The GBdirect's company web site is at
http://www.gbdirect.co.uk and their Linux training site is at
http://www.linuxtraining.co.uk

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR PHOTOGRAPHS, PLEASE CONTACT:
Dave Fisher, Business Development, tel: +44 (0)1274 772277.  Email:
davef@gbdirect.co.uk



ABOUT PLANET ONLINE LIMITED

Planet Online, the UK's leading business ISP, is a member of the Energis
Group. Planet Online has the largest web server hosting data centre in
Europe and provides the hosting infrastructure for Dixons' Freeserve which
has attracted over one million users. Planet Online customers include some
of the major corporations in Europe, companies such as Colt Mitsubushi,
Xerox, Yamaha Music, Pirelli Tyres, Samsung, Rover Group, Nestle, Microsoft
and Virgin Clothing.  The Planet Online web site can be visited at
http://www.theplanet.net

Energis plc, the telecommunications company focused exclusively on the
business marketplace, built its national network primarily along the
National Grid's electricity pylon infrastructure.  The company has over
6,500 kms of fibre optic cable installed throughout England and Wales, a
capacity sharing agreement with ScottishTelecom and an international
licence.  Energis offers businesses a full portfolio of national and
international services together with value-added Internet and intranet
services.  These services include innovative telephony services, advanced
Frame Relay and ATM for data transmission and enhanced voice services such
as local rate, national rate and freephone.

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR PHOTOGRAPHS, PLEASE CONTACT:
James Nunn, Press Office, Planet Online Limited. Tel: 0113-207 6065. Mobile:
07880-791500. Email: james.nunn@theplanet.net.


=============================================================
Dave Fisher                                +44 (0)1274 772277
Business Development                     davef@gbdirect.co.uk
=============================================================
GBdirect Consultancy and Training          www.gbdirect.co.uk
27 Park Drive                         www.trainingpages.co.uk
Bradford BD9 4DS                      www.linuxtraining.co.uk     
=============================================================