LPI and Canonical announce world’s first Ubuntu Professionals

The Linux Professional Institute (LPI), the world’s premier Linux certification organization, and Canonical Ltd., sponsor of the award-winning Ubuntu operating system, jointly announced the world’s first Ubuntu Certified Professionals: Fred Strauss and Khayeni Ndlovu of Johannesburg, South Africa. Mr. Strauss and Mr. Ndlovu were amongst a group of people who wrote paper versions of the Ubuntu certification exam at LinuxWorld Johannesburg on May 18, 2006. The Ubuntu Certified Professional exam is now available worldwide at over 7,000 Thomson Prometric and Pearson VUE testing centres.

Jane Silber, a spokesperson for Canonical Ltd., the company which is the overall sponsor of Ubuntu, extended her congratulations to Mr. Strauss and Mr. Ndlovu on their achievement: “Canonical is proud to welcome these first Ubuntu Certified Professionals into the world-wide Ubuntu community. Their achievement reinforces the increasing demand we have noted from engineers and managers for an IT certification which proves an individual’s Ubuntu skills–particularly within the enterprise environment,” said Ms. Silber. The Ubuntu Certified Professional program consists of a single exam on top of LPI‘s existing 101 and 102 exams providing candidates with the dual advantage of a recognized existing global IT certification standard, LPIC-1, plus the “Ubuntu Certified Professional” status. LPI‘s product development team and Ubuntu community members created the Ubuntu exam which has been priced at $100 US.

Khayeni Ndlovu, an IT specialist with the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa was pleased to be amongst the world’s first Ubuntu Certified Professionals and noted the importance of the designation in his work: “The Ubuntu Certified Professional designation establishes me as a systems administrator with bona fide credentials. The University of Witwatersrand Bioinformatics and Computer Science departments use Ubuntu as their Linux distribution of choice. My LPIC and Ubuntu certifications demonstrate my skills knowledge, and confidence to support postgraduates and academics in their use of Open Source Software.” said Mr. Ndlovu.

To schedule an Ubuntu Certified Professional exam at a test location nearest you please look for the Ubuntu exam listing amongst the available LPI certification exams at either http://www.prometric.com or http://www.pearsonvue.com.

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 IBM, Linux Journal, Linux Magazine, Novell, SGI, and TurboLinux as well as Gold Sponsors, Hewlett-Packard and IDG.

About Ubuntu

Ubuntu is a Linux-based operating environment consisting of free and open source software for laptops, desktops, and servers. Since its launch in October 2004, Ubuntu has become one of the most highly regarded Linux distributions, with millions distributed and in use around the world. Ubuntu will always be free, and will not have restrictive licenses associated with it. With these goals in mind at all times, Ubuntu aims at being the most widely used of all Linux systems, and is the centre of a global open source software ecosystem. For more information, please check www.ubuntu.com.

About Canonical Ltd.

Canonical Ltd is committed to the development, distribution and promotion of open source software, and to the provision of commercial tools and support services on a global basis. Canonical’s award-winning Ubuntu operating environment has been adopted as the preferred solution in governments, schools and businesses around the world. With a global organization headquartered in Europe, Canonical has employees throughout Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Asia and Australia. For more information, please check http://www.canonical.com.

Media contacts

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