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Caldera backs standard Linux ‘degrees’

Linux Professional Institute to offer exams, certificates of competence later this year

Caldera has joined fellow Linux distributors Red Hat, Pacific HiTech and SuSE in sponsoring the Linux Professional Institute (LPI), a body seeking to develop a standard certification for system users and administrators. The LPI's plan is to offer examinations to test candidates' knowledge of the OS, but keep the test process separate from the training process. That structure allows people working their way through corporates' in-house programmes or courses offered by third-parties, to join self-taught Linux specialists in seeking a common certificate of competence. "Anyone who knows the information should be able to get a quality certification," said Linux International (LI) executive director, John 'Maddog' Hall. LI is represented on the LPI's advisory council, along with the organisation's other sponsors, now including Caldera, and which also takes on board support operations like Linuxcare and publications like Linux Gazette and Linux Journal. The LPI's first set of examinations are due to be delivered in the third quarter of the year -- candidates who pass will be "certified to have in-depth knowledge of the Linux OS and kernel, with broad-based knowledge of the Linux industry as a whole". Further examinations will cover specific Linux distributions. All of which should improve Linux advocates' attempts to shore up the open source OS' initial success in the world of corporate computing, with the materials they need to show Linux is a 'serious' OS. The formation of the LPI back in October 1998 foreshadowed KeyLabs' plan to offer a standard certification of Linux compatibility for hardware (see KeyLabs touts 'official' Linux marque). Again, that plan is based on increasing Linux's appeal to corporate finance people who might not otherwise consider it a viable platform. Unlike KeyLabs, however, the LPI is a non-profit making organisation. ® The LPI can be contacted at its Web site

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