LPI Announces Two New Affiliates in France and UK

LPI Announces Two New Affiliates in France and UK

(Toronto, Canada: December 7, 2004) The Linux Professional Institute 
(LPI), the premier Linux certification organization worldwide 
(http://www.lpi.org/), announced today the signing of two new 
affiliates: Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) and OpenForum 
Europe (OFE).

AUF with over 500 French-speaking universities and research institutions 
in its network around the world, has formed LPI-Francophonie. This 
newest affiliation offers the Linux Professional Institute (LPI) a 
significant partnership in reaching French-speaking IT professionals.

French language LPI certification exams will now be promoted by 
LPI-Francophonie in countries where AUF partner universities have 
established Centres for Linux, Open and Free Software Development 
(C3LD). With these Centres, LPI-Francophonie will ensure the growing 
adoption of the LPI certification exams for the French-speaking Linux 
professional.

Didier Oillo, General Manager for ICT Programs at AUF, explained: "With 
LPI-Francophonie affiliation, AUF will endeavour to answer the needs of 
French-speaking universities for qualified personnel in Linux, and C3LDs 
will now offer high-quality Linux Certification opportunities to 
french-speaking university staff and to professionals, globally, through 
our affiliation with LPI, as LPI-Francophonie, and our world-wide 
network of resources."

The first international LPI-Francophonie certification session will take 
place in Dakar-Senegal, at the Regional Bureau of AUF For Africa, from 
December 6-10, 2004, and will bring together C3LD leaders and partners 
from Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Morocco, Mali and Senegal.

In the United Kingdom, OpenForum Europe (OFE) is the Linux Professional 
Institute's (LPI) new affiliate. As LPI-UK, they will promote LPI 
testing and certification programs within the United Kingdom and the 
Republic of Ireland.

Evan Leibovitch, President of LPI, said: "OpenForum Europe is passionate 
about developing the use of Open Source in the UK. They recognize that 
the promotion of a high quality skills standard such as LPI 
certification is essential to that goal."

Graham Taylor, Director of OpenForum Europe expressed his determination 
to uphold the policies and principles of LPI: "In some quarters there is 
the perception that there is a shortage of skills in OSS and Linux which 
is hindering the adoption of OSS: this is the first of a programme of 
announcements related to professional skills development from OFE which 
will ensure this perception remains short-lived."

Open Forum Europe, as LPI-UK, recently announced that its first LPI 
Approved Training Partner (LATP) is the ITS Group, with training centres 
located in Bristol and Edinburgh. LPI-UK will be working closely with 
LPI and the ITS Group in the delivery of this programme. Together they 
hope the LPI exams will bring a much-needed cohesive accreditation 
framework for professionals and employers in the UK Linux community.

LPI's LATP program is designed to recognize schools and training centers 
which have met LPI criteria. The LATP program is open to all qualified 
participants: those using LPI approved training materials (LATM), 
delivered by qualified instructors and upholding a common Code of 
Ethics. For more information on the ITS Group see: 
http://www.itservices.org.uk

LPI's certification program is delivered worldwide in multiple languages 
with the support of employers, vendors and trainers. It has delivered 
over 60,000 Level One and Level Two certification exams globally since 
the program's inception.

LPI supports affiliate networks on six continents worldwide including 
Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Germany, Jamaica, Japan, 
United States, France, the UK and South Africa.

For more information please visit www.lpi.org, www.auf.org or 
www.openforumeurope.org

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About Linux Professional Institute:

The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) is the global standard in Linux 
certification. LPI develops professional certification for the Linux 
operating system that is trusted, accessible and independent. 
Established as an international non-profit organization in 1999 by the 
Linux community, LPI's internationally-recognized certification programs 
has earned the respect of vendors, employers and administrators. LPI's 
multi-level program of exams are available in seven languages, and are 
administered globally through Pearson VUE and Prometric testing centers. 
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 major financial sponsors are Platinum 
Sponsors IBM (NYSE:IBM), Maxspeed, SGI (NYSE:SGI), SuSE Linux AG and 
TurboLinux as well as Gold Sponsors Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL), 
Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HWP), Wave Technologies and Linux Magazine.


-- 

Scott Lamberton
Director of Community Relations
Linux Professional Institute
Email: scottl@lpi.org
Web: http://www.lpi.org
Telephone: +1-416-666-1574


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