November/December 2004 Newsletter:
1. LPI Undertakes Proctor Training and Exam Lab in Senegal, Africa 2. LPI in Vietnam, Japan, and Venezuela 3. LPI in Academia: Scottsdale, Arizona 4. Affiliate News 5. LPI in the News 6. Community News 7. Events
1. LPI Undertakes Proctor Training and Exam Lab in Senegal, Africa
LPI President Evan Leibovitch and LPI-Brazil President Marcelo Marques travelled to Dakar, Senegal in early December to train proctors for the "L'Association Universitaire de la Francophonie" (AUF). AUF is one of LPI´s newest affiliates, LPI-Francophonie.
"La Francophonie" is an association of 49 countries and states/provinces in which French is either the primary or an important secondary language (A full list is available at http://www.francophonie.org/membres/etats/). AUF itself represents almost every French-speaking university in the world. AUF has 500 employees worldwide with its headquarters in Paris, France and branch offices in Montreal, Canada and Dakar, Senegal.
The conference in Dakar, Senegal included training of 11 proctors, an exam lab, and development of business plans for establishing LPI as an educational and career-building strategy in each of the participating countries of ¨la francophonie¨. A description of the event, in French, can be found at http://www.transfer-tic.org/candidatures/prog.php?op=detail&num_p=77 <http://www.transfer-tic.org/candidatures/prog.php?op=detail&num_p=77>
2. LPI in Vietnam, Japan, and Venezuela
In November, LPI Director of Business Development, Glenn McKnight undertook a whirlwind 11 day trip to Vietnam, Japan and Venezuela.
VIETNAM:
In Vietnam, Mr. McKnight held an exam lab for 52 participants of a UNDP-APDIP/International Open Source Network LPI training conference. Trained Proctors were from nations throughout the region including the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam
Participants were prepared for the exams using LinuxIT courseware developed under the GFPL license. The UNDP is now funding the further development of this courseware to make it compliant with LPI´s LATM criteria.
For a full description of the exam lab and training session (including photos) see:
http://www.iosn.net/country/vietnam/events/training-of-trainers/index_html/
For additional background information on GFPL courseware see: http://www.lpi.org/en/news_item/89
Glenn´s picture of the exam lab: https://group.lpi.org/publicwiki/pub/Operations/Resources/Vietnamexamlab.jpg
JAPAN:
Mr. McKnight met with a number of LPI-Japan staff and Board members to discuss joint business and exam development issues
In particular, discussions with LPI-Japan board members, Mr. Michinori Nakahara (Program Manager Linux Sales, IBM Japan) and Atsuo Suzuki (NEC Valway, Senior Manger, Linux System Group) focused on recent changes to LPI operations and LPI Exam Rotation strategy and roadmap. As well, a subsequent meeting with Prometric representatives in Japan centred on the need for collaborative efforts around marketing LPI´s Level 2 exams.
Photo of some of the LPI-J staff (Ms. Risa Nagaishi, Kazuko Itoda, Noriko Yoshida and Mr. Yutaka Yonezawa): https://group.lpi.org/publicwiki/pub/Operations/Resources/LPIJstaff.jpg.
VENEZUELA:
LPI was represented at the conference ¨Foro Mundial de Tecnología Libre en Venezuela¨ by Glenn McKnight, Director of Business Development. The conference included an exam lab for 26 participants and training of three local proctors.
LPI´s hosts for this event included ISEIT (El Instituto de Software Libre en Estudios e Investigaciones Tecnologicas/The Institute of Free Software in Technology Education and Research http://www.iseit.com.ve/campus/) and CORVUS, a Caracas-based Linux/Open Source consulting and IT services company.
Following a key-note address to 800 conference delegates Mr. McKnight participated in a live radio interview on the largest local FM radio station and a detailed interview with BBC news. He also met with Adi Alurkar of Open Source Technology Group (i.e. Source Forge) to investigate joint marketing efforts and to promote LPI on their subscriber lists.
Local Venezuelan academics and Linux enthusiasts also contributed 200 potential exam questions to LPI´s exam development efforts.
Conference details (in Spanish): http://wiki.tecnologialibre.org/index.php
Proctors Picture (https://group.lpi.org/publicwiki/pub/Operations/Resources/Venezulaproctors.jpg): Ricardo Strusberg, Jacquline Strusberg and Armengo Alberto.
3. LPI in Academia: Scottsdale, Arizona
Director of US Business Development, Ted Cook, participated in ¨The Open Source Summit: Open Source - Opens Learning¨ in Scottsdale, Arizona December 1-3. This conference focused on open source in higher education, http://www.opensourcesummit.org/index.html.
LPI was a sponsor of the conference, and Mr. Cook gave a presentation on LPI as part of a session on open source projects. For a copy of his conference presentation see:
https://group.lpi.org/publicwiki/pub/Operations/Resources/Tcookglobalstandard.sxi
Mr. Cook also met and spoke with several academic representatives about LPI´s certification program at the conference. These included: Curt Pederson, Vice-Provost, Oregon State University (home to the Open Source Lab, http://osuosl.org/, which currently hosts the Mozilla project); representatives from Toronto-based
Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology, Maricopa Community College District, The r-smart group
Unicon, Intel, Apollo Group Inc., and The Sedona Conference & Conversations.
At the conference IBM representatives also spoke about their IBM Academic Initiative. This program provides free courseware to academic institutions, including K-12, Universities and private schools. Included amongst this free courseware is tutorials to prepare student´s for LPI´s Level 1 exams. For more information on this courseware and the IBM Academic Initiative see:
http://www.developer.ibm.com/us/en/university/scholars/products/linux/
and
http://www-1.ibm.com/press/PressServletForm.wss?MenuChoice=pressreleases&TemplateName=ShowPressReleaseTemplate&SelectString=t1.docunid=7238&TableName=DataheadApplicationClass&SESSIONKEY=any&WindowTitle=Press+Release&STATUS=publish <http://www-1.ibm.com/press/PressServletForm.wss?MenuChoice=pressreleases&TemplateName=ShowPressReleaseTemplate&SelectString=t1.docunid=7238&TableName=DataheadApplicationClass&SESSIONKEY=any&WindowTitle=Press+Release&STATUS=publish>
4. Affiliate News:
LPI-German announces first new training partner: Hewlett-Packard see: http://www.lpi.org/en/news_item/87
LPI Announces Two New Affiliates in France and UK
In early December LPI announced the signing of two new affiliates: Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) and OpenForum Europe (OFE). See: http://www.lpi.org/en/news_item/86
For additional information on AUF see lead story above.
For additional information on OpenForum Europe see:
http://www.openforumeurope.org/index.php?option=content&task=blogsection&id=15&Itemid=105 <http://www.openforumeurope.org/index.php?option=content&task=blogsection&id=>
5. LPI In the News:
Information Week: ¨Certification: Is It Right For An Open-Source World?¨ Nov. 8, 2004
see http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=52200174
Telemax Studios, ¨Inside Business and Technology¨ (Discovery Channel)
Interview with Evan Leibovitch, President of LPI at San Francisco Linux World, August 2004:
visit http://www.telemaxstudios.com <http://www.telemaxstudios.com/> and click on ¨Linux Prof Inst¨ in the middle of the web page
or go directly to http://www.telemaxstudios.com/linux/lpi.wmv
Certification Magazine: ¨The Big Payoff: CertMag's 2004 Salary Survey¨ December, 2004
See http://www.certmag.com/articles/templates/cmag_feature.asp?articleid=981&zoneid=1 <http://www.certmag.com/articles/templates/cmag_feature.asp?articleid=981&zoneid=1>
The annual salary review by Certification Magazine has the salary of LPI certified professionals earning on average $71,350 US.
CertCities.Com, "10 Hottest Certifications for 2005", December, 2004
LPI Level 2 was named the 6th ¨hottest¨ certification in their annual survey.
To view the article, visit: http://certcities.com/editorial/features/story.asp?EditorialsID=86
6. Community News:
Linux Professional Institute Announces Two New Approved Training Materials
In November LPI announced two new LATM´s: LinuxCertified from California and German-based Linup Front.
See: http://www.lpi.org/en/news_item/83
LPI Sponsor Linux New Media announces Spanish edition of Linux Magazine
Linux New Media recently launched Linux Magazine in a monthly print edition in Spanish.
The Magazine will serve Spanish-speaking Linux users worldwide. The first issue, consisting of 100 pages and a DVD, is now available. The Spanish team will not only draw on the international Linux New Media content
pool, but will generate a significant amount of local and specialized content specifically for the Spanish-speaking world. Additionally, a Spanish-language website is now available online: http://www.linux-magazine.com.es <http://www.linux-magazine.com.es/>
7: EVENTS
LinuxWorld Conference & Expo Boston, February 2005 -- LPI Offers Free Linux Certification
LPI will be offering FREE Linux certification testing at LinuxWorld Conference & Expo in Boston, February 14-17, 2005 at the Hynes Convention Center. LinuxWorld is the premier event exclusively focused on Linux and open source solutions.
Each day of the conference at 1:00 p.m., LPI will be conducting LPI Level 1 exams. Exams are free to all conference delegates. A special discounted price is also offered to all exhibitors and exhibit attendees, who will be charged $25 per exam. For more information about LinuxWorld Boston or to register for the event, please visit www.linuxworldexpo.com <http://www.linuxworldexpo.com/>.
Linux Desktop Summit, San Diego, February 9 -11th -- LPI Booth and Exam Lab
Del Mar Fairgrounds – Activity Center, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar, San Diego, California
Exam candidates can obtain a discounted admission price of $50. Please contact Glenn McKnight, Director of Business Development ([EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>) to indicate your interest in taking the exams and to obtain the coupon code for the discounted conference admission. Exam discount available for LPI candidates.
For more information on the conference see: http://www.desktopsummit.com <http://www.desktopsummit.com/>
Mass LPI Linux Exam Lab, South Africa, February 25, 2005
Our friends at AfriBiz, a IT training company in South Africa, have decided to challenge the mass exam lab held last year in Hong Kong (200 participants).
They intend to surpass that number! AfriBiz has been working closely with our South African affiliate, the Shuttleworth Foundation, over the last year to host regular exam labs. Apparently the demand for trained linux professionals is increasing dramatically in that country and AfriBiz fully expects to meet their target 0f 200 candidates.
For more information on the event see: http://www.afribiz.co.za/lpiframe.html
-- Scott Lamberton Director of Community Relations Linux Professional Institute Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.lpi.org Telephone: +1-416-666-1574
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