* Novell gives away Linux to education sector; creates Linux training course
A couple of weeks ago we were speculating about the possibilities of a Certified Novell Engineer educational track for Open Enterprise Server. I mentioned the possibility of somehow combining the NetWare 6 CNE with the Certified Linux Engineer certification Novell offers for SuSE Linux (NetWare and SuSE are the two components of OES).
There’s no news on that front, but there were a couple of announcements last week that may indicate Novell’s new direction on training and certification. The company announced an introductory Linux training course to be used in academic environments (i.e., colleges and high schools) to promote open source training. That’s interesting news in itself, since the course doesn’t go through the normal training channels that Novell uses for its certification programs. But it’s the certification announcement that is particularly interesting.
You see, this new course leads directly to one of the more widely recognized (and vendor-neutral) certifications in the Linux market – the CompTIA Linux+. CompTIA is the Computing Technology Industry Association (http://www.comptia.org), best known for its A+ certification, the base-level hardware and software qualification that serves as a foundation and stepping stone for higher level certifications from vendors – like Novell and Microsoft. It’s rare, though, for a vendor to create teaching materials for one of the CompTIA certifications.
But wait, there’s more.
In addition to creating the teaching materials, Novell also announced it will donate $1.5 million in SuSE Linux software and training materials to educational institutions to help promote Linux adoption. $1.5 million might not sound like much, but that’s a lot of Linux.
The course Novell created covers the objectives outlined by CompTIA for the Linux+ exam and certification, a credential that offers proof of knowledge in key Linux areas, from networking configuration to directories to the Linux desktop and more. The Linux+ course appears to be the foundation for an entire panoply of Linux classes, probably a better start even than Novell’s own Certified Linux Engineer. The course and the certification would seem to be a natural fit for those moving to OES.
This could also be a way for Novell to test the waters and see if a more open, vendor-neutral approach to certification is appealing to users.
