LINUX PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTE OFFERS CERTIFICATION TESTING AT LINUXWORLD EXPO, SAN FRANCISCO

TORONTO, July 31, 2003 - The Linux Professional Institute (LPI), (www.lpi.org), the premier international professional certification program for the Linux community, is offering LPI certification testing at Linuxworld Conference & Expo, August 5-8, Moscone Conference Center, San Francisco.

Offered to all full conference attendees at no charge in Room #309 at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., on Tuesday, August 5, Wednesday, August 6 and Thursday, August 7; candidates must pre-register by clicking www.lpi.org/en/register.html to receive a LPI registration ID number before testing on-site.  An administration fee of $20 per exam will be charged to non-conference attendees.

"Because there will be hundreds of potential certifiable candidates at the conference, we recognize this is the perfect opportunity to get the word out that a healthy certified body of Linux professionals clearly supports continued integration of the platform within the enterprise," says LPI's President Evan Leibovitch.  "With more conventional enterprise vendors supporting Linux, the ability for IT departments to implement low-risk evaluations of Linux-based systems for new projects has now become viable for many but they still need certified Linux professionals to run and maintain the systems."

LPI's mandate is to design and deliver a certification program from within the Linux community, using both volunteer and professional resources. LPI has been selected as the winner, for the second consecutive year, of the Linux Journal's annual Editors' Choice Awards in the Training and Certification category. LPI has delivered over 30,000 Level One and Level Two certification exams globally since the program's inception in just over two years.

"People who take LPI exams recognize certification is critical to their own careers," adds Leibovitch.  "LPI is providing a clear organizational career path for IT professionals to follow that helps them do their job better in light of the increased use of Linux in the enterprise.  It also validates a candidate's knowledge base and is proof-positive of their persistence and determination to complete a project like LPI's certification process."

About Linux Professional Institute

The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) develops professional certification for the Linux operating system independent of software vendors or training providers. Established as an international non-profit organization in 1999 by the Linux community, LPI develops accessible, internationally recognized certification programs which have earned the respect of vendors, employers and administrators. LPI's activities involve hundreds of volunteers and professionals throughout the world in many different capacities, and the group encourages active public involvement through mailing lists and its website at www.lpi.org. LPI's multi-level program of exams is administered globally through Pearson VUE and Prometric testing centers. LPI's major financial sponsors are Platinum Sponsors Caldera International (NASDAQ:CALD), IBM (NYSE:IBM), Linuxcare, Maxspeed, SGI (NYSE:SGI), SuSE Linux AG and TurboLinux as well as Gold Sponsors Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HWP) and Wave Technologies.


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