Linux Professional Institute Fact Sheet

ORGANIZATION
The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) is a community project to develop a professional certification program for Linux.  Evolving out of mailing list and conference discussions that began in the summer and fall of 1998, LPI is today incorporating as a not-for-profit corporation based in Canada.  LPI continues to involve hundreds of volunteers through both mailing lists and web-based systems.

LPI has outlined a program for a three-level "LPI Certified" (LPIC) program.  The program has the following directives from the volunteer community participants:

- The program must be neutral to vendors of Linux distributions and training.
- All exams must be developed in such a manner that they are valid statistically, psychometrically and legally and should involve the Linux community as much as possible.
- Costs to individual exam candidates should be as minimal as possible.
- The program must be available globally and able to scale massively.
- Candidates must be able to prepare for the certification exams through any means that suits them.
- LPI will specify only the certification standards and not the education to prepare for exams.

With these attributes in mind, LPI is developing a series of exams, with the first exams available globally through VUE testing centers in August 1999.  The exam objectives are on-line at http://www.lpi.org/cgi-bin/poms.py .
MISSION
The Linux Professional Institute believes in the need for a standardized, multi-national, and respected program to certify levels of individual expertise in Linux. This program must be able to satisfy the requirements of Linux professionals, as well as organizations which would employ or contract such professionals. 
Our goal is to design and deliver such a program from within the Linux community, using both volunteer and hired resources as necessary. We resolve to undertake a well-considered, open, disciplined development process, leading directly to the establishment of a recognized and widely-endorsed Linux certification body. 
MANAGEMENT
Oversight of LPI is provided through a volunteer Board of Directors, currently consisting of:

Dan York, Chair  (New Hampshire, USA)
Tom Peters, Secretary and Program Director (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Chuck Mead, Treasurer (North Carolina, USA)
Evan Leibovitch, Executive Director (Ontario, Canada)
Scott Murray, Exam Development Director (Arkansas, USA)
Jared Buckley, Volunteer Coordinator (Texas, USA)
ADVISORY COUNCIL
To ensure that the program meets both the needs of the Linux community as well as the organizations that will employ those people who successfully complete our certification program, LPI has an  Advisory Council of individuals and organizationswho  provide feedback and guidance. The Advisory Council currently includes representatives from the following organizations (listed alphabetically):

Caldera Systems, Canadian Linux Users Exchange, CompUSA, Corel, Course Technology, ExecuTrain, IBM, Global Knowledge Network, Linuxcare, LinuxMall, Linux Gazette, Linux International, Linux Journal, Linux Labs, New Horizons Computer Learning Centers, New Riders Publishing, TurboLinux, Red Hat Software, SAGE (USENIX) Certification Committee, SGI, Slackware, SuSE, UK Unix User Group, UniForum, Wave Technologies
PUBLIC CONTACT and PARTICIPATION
LPI has a website at: http://www.lpi.org .

Most public activities take place in various mailing lists.  One can subscribe by sending an e-mail to Majordomo@linuxcare.com , with in the body of the message the line:
subscribe [listname]
with [listname] one of:
linux-cert	(for general discussions)
linux-cert-announce	(for occasional announcements)
linux-cert-program	(for development of certification program contents)
linux-cert-examdev	(for development of certification exams)
linux-cert-pr	(for public relations)
linux-cert-corprel	(for relations with corporate partners)
The mailing lists are archived and accessible through http://lists.linuxcare.com/[listname] .
FUNDING
Initial funding for LPI is being provided through a corporate and individual sponsorship program. While a complete list of sponsors is available on the LPI web site, the Platinum Corporate sponsors currently include (listed alphabetically):  Caldera Systems, IBM, Linuxcare and SuSE .
Continued funding will be provided both by sponsorships and also from a small portion of exam fees collected from individual certification candidates.
PRESS CONTACT
Dan York, dan@lpi.org, telephone 415-740-4519 or 603-268-0691, fax 603-268-0103
Evan Leibovitch, evan@lpi.org, telephone 905-452-0504, fax 905-452-9754