FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LINUX PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES SPONSORSHIPS,
GAINS FURTHER INDUSTRY SUPPORT FOR LINUX CERTIFICATION


June 7, 1999, Raleigh, NC-- The Linux Professional Institute (LPI), 
an industry-wide group developing a professional certification 
program for Linux, is pleased to announce the creation of its 
corporate sponsorship program and a number of early sponsors. LPI 
also welcomes the addition of several new members to its Advisory 
Council, including IBM, ExecuTrain and CompUSA.

Two sponsorship plans, for corporations and individuals, have been
introduced to allow anyone to assist the LPI in its goal of creating a
high-quality, vendor-neutral program.  LPI aims to deliver its first
certification exams in July 1999.

"While we have heavily depended on the volunteer community in the spirit
of other Linux projects, putting together a respected certification
program requires a substantial investment," said Chuck Mead, LPI Director
of Corporate Relations. "The financial support of the Linux community is
crucial to our program's timeliness and credibility."

The LPI corporate sponsorship program allows for donations from $1,000
to more than $50,000. Individual sponsorships allow for donations from $100 to
$1,000.

To date, the following sponsorship commitments have been received:

Corporate Platinum ($50,000 or more):
   Caldera
   LinuxCare
   SuSE

Corporate Silver ($10,000 or more)
   Starnix

Corporate Bronze ($5,000 or more)
   Digital Creations

Individual Platinum ($1,000 or more)
   Jon 'maddog' Hall
   Mark Bolzern

Individual Bronze ($100 or more)
   Richard Ames

The above Sponsors, as well as any other companies who pledge financial
support for LPI before June 30, 1999, will be designated "Charter"
sponsors. A full description of sponsor benefits and other features of the
program, can be found at http://www.lpi.org/sponsorship.html on the LPI
website.

"We believed from the beginning that an independent Linux certification
would be paramount to the success of Linux for business," said Ransom
Love, President and CEO of Caldera Systems, Inc. "Independent
certification not only enables Caldera Systems to provide better
education through Authorized Training Centers worldwide--it sets a
standard that the business world can depend on. We are proud to be
co-sponsors of LPI and part of their Advisory Council. We welcome all
newcomers."

"Red Hat is committed to providing its customers the best training and
certification programs in the industry, and making these available on a
wide scale", said Red Hat Software's Director of Technical Programs, 
Donnie Barnes, "We welcome the creation of credible, vendor-neutral 
certification standards for Linux and are pleased to be involved in the 
Advisory Council."

"Our plan is to promote LPI certificates as much as possible," said
Tilman Muller-Gerbes, SuSE Vice President Professional Services.
"Therefore, it is of prime importance to us to have them available
in as many countries as possible, right from the start."

"As more and more companies use Linux it is very important for human
resources and management to be able to confidently assess the
qualifications of the people they interview.", said Mark Bolzern, CEO 
LinuxMall, "The Linux Professional Institute, through it's certification 
program will provide a solution so management can evaluate and hire 
expertise with confidence.  The open way in which the courseware and 
certification tests are being created guarantees that the material will 
be comprehensive, relavant, and vendor independent.

In addition to the corporate sponsorship program, the LPI has significantly
increased the size and breadth of its Advisory Council. This Council,
which is designed to represent the diversity of the support behind Linux
certification, now includes new members IBM, CompUSA, ExecuTrain, Global Knowledge,
Lotus, and SGI.

"As a global leader in certification training, Wave Technologies responds to our 
customers needs by bringing certification training programs to the market," said 
Ken Kousky, president and chief executive officer of Wave. "As Linux becomes more 
mainstream in the corporate community, we are consistently hearing from our 
customers a need for Linux certification. Wave is eager to support any viable 
measurement of professional competencies in Linux and is taking an active role 
regarding certification."

"As an industry leader, ExecuTrain knows that standards and core knowledge
are keys to success," said Phil Carlson, vice president of strategic
alliances at ExecuTrain Corp.  "We look forward to working with Linux
Professional Institute (LPI) and the other key players to build a
certification program based on this new and important technology."

"Vendor-neutral industry certification such as LPI's exam-based Linux
Certification program can provide a vehicle for our customers to prove their
competence to their clients, employers and colleagues," said RJ Bornhofen,
Linux Curriculum Manager for Global Knowledge. "We are pleased to be
involved in the LPI advisory council program, and will continue to strive to
provide students with the highest quality preparation to complete their
training and certification successfully."

"The new members of the Advisory Council help make this group a great
asset to us," said LPI Chief Executive Officer Evan Leibovitch. "This is
not only a group of companies willing to say they support us, they've
proven that support by helping us with some very important decisions."


FOR MORE INFORMATION:

LPI Contacts:

  Chuck Mead, Director of Corporate Relations
  (919) 462-9426
  chuck@lpi.org

  Evan Leibovitch, CEO
  (905) 452-0926
  evan@lpi.org

Caldera Contact:
  
  Nancy Pomeroy
  Media Relations
  (801) 765-4999 ext. 304
  nancy@calderasystems.com

Red Hat Contact:

  Donnie Barnes 
  Director of Technical Programs
  Red Hat Software (919) 547-0012
  djb@redhat.com

SuSE Contacts:

  Tilman Mueller-Gerbes, VP Professional Services
  SuSE GmbH
  Schanzaeckerstr. 10
  D-90461 Nuernberg
  Germany
  +49-911-74053-56
  tmg@suse.de

  Marc Torres, President SuSE Inc.
  SuSE Inc.
  580 Second Street, Suite 210
  Oakland, CA 94607
  USA
  +1-510-835-7873
  marct@suse.com

LinuxMall Contact:
  Mark Bolzern, CEO LinuxMall
  Phone: 303-693-3321
  Fax: 303-699-2793
  http://www.LinuxMall.com

  mark@LinuxMall.com

Wave Tech Contact:
  Mimi Ricketts, Wave
  314-692-1983 
  mrickett@wavetech.com

ExecuTrain Contact:

  ExecuTrain Corporation
  4800 North Point Parkway
  Alpharetta, GA 30022
  770-667-7700
  1-800-90-TRAIN  

Global Knowledge Contact:
  R.J. Bornhofen
  Linux Curriculum Manager
  Global Knowledge - The Education Integration Company
  (919) 460-3261
  rj.bornhofen@globalknowledge.com
  http://www.globalknowledge.com