Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2000 15:31:41 -0500 (EST)
From: Evan Leibovitch <evan@starnix.com>
To: Evan Leibovitch <evan@starnix.com>
Subject: Linux Certification Group Launches Early Bird Program


LINUX PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTE

LINUX CERTIFICATION GROUP INTRODUCES "EARLY BIRD" REWARD PROGRAM
First 300 LPI exam-takers will receive books and software

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 28, 2000
 
TORONTO, Ontario: The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) today announced
"Early Bird", an incentive program to reward its initial participants.
Under the program, the first 300 people to take LPI Linux certification
exams will be eligible to receive a free book, software package or other
Linux-related item from a selection of products donated by LPI sponsors.

"The response to our initial release has been fantastic," said LPI
Executive Director Evan Leibovitch. "The Early Bird program will make our
exams even more attractive to people looking to become certified in Linux
skills."

LPI recently started delivering its first exam, test 1a, through more than
1,700 VUE testing centers worldwide. The second LPI exam, T1b, is expected
to become available during March 2000.

"The Early Bird program is a direct benefit of LPI's being a community
organization," said LPI Board Chair Dan York. "Our sponsors have been
extremely generous in their donations of rewards -- they are all eager to
see LPI succeed and for our program to be adopted across the industry."
 
"We're delighted to be a part of this," said Mark Bolzern, president of
LinuxMall.com, which is providing fulfillment services for the program.
"LinuxMall.com is always working towards growth of the Linux Industry, and
LPI serves an important function in advancing the corporate adoption of
Linux," he said. "The success of LPI's industry standard and vendor
neutral standardized certification is crucial to help bring Linux into
the computing mainstream."

The rewards, all provided by LPI sponsors, include
 
- Linux-related books from Macmillan, McGraw Hill and New Riders

- Packaged Linux distributions from Caldera, SuSE and TurboLinux

- BRU backup software from Enhanced Software Technologies.

- T-shirts from Linuxcare, Macmillan and LinuxMall.com

- "Tux the Penguin" plush toys from LinuxMall.com

- Bootable recovery CD-ROMs from Linuxcare
 
Supplies of each item will be limited. People who take LPI exams will be
able to choose any one of the remaining rewards. Selection of rewards and
their shipment to LPI participants will be co-ordinated by LPI and
LinuxMall.com. People who have already taken LPI exams are also eligible
to claim rewards from the program.

About LPI

The Linux Professional Institute is a community project to develop
professional certification for the Linux operating system. Established
as a nonprofit organization focused on defining distribution-neutral and
vendor-neutral certification standards, LPI involves a unique blend of
hundreds of volunteers and professionals in many different capacities and
encourages public involvement through mailing lists and its website of
www.lpi.org. LPI's multi-level program of exams is administered globally
through test centers operated by Virtual University Enterprises (VUE), a
division of NCS (Nasdaq:NLCS). Major financial sponsorship of LPI is
from Platinum Sponsors of Caldera Systems, IBM (NYSE:IBM), Linuxcare,
SGI (NYSE:SGI), SuSE Linux AG and TurboLinux as well as the Gold Sponsor
Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HWP) and Wave Technologies (Nasdaq:WAVT). More
information can be obtained at www.lpi.org.
 
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States
and other countries.
 
"Linux Professional Institute" and the LPI logo are trademarks of Linux
Professional Institute, Inc.
 
CONTACT:
 
Dan York, Chair, Board of Directors
(603) 264-0129 (mobile) or (603) 268-0691
dan@lpi.org
 
Evan Leibovitch, Executive Director
(905) 452-0926 (office), (416) 998-3914
evan@lpi.org