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The Linux Professional Institute LPI ( http://www.lpi.org/), 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. Several new members have been added to its Advisory Council, including IBM, ExecuTrain and CompUSA. Two sponsorship plans, one for corporations and one for individuals, have been introduced to allow anyone to assist the LPI in its goal of creating a high-quality, vendor-neutral program. The LPI aims to deliver its first certification exams in July 1999.

Ecrix Corporation( http://www.vxatape.com/) announced a key partnership with Penguin Computing Inc.( http://www.penguincomputing.com/), a company focused exclusively on turn-key Linux solutions. Penguin will offer Ecrix's VXA-1 tape drive on all of its Linux servers, providing a new data backup and restore option for its customers. The VXA-1 features a SCSI-2 interface and storage capacity of 66GB and transfers data at 6MB/second. VXA tape cartridges are available in two capacities: the V17 stores 66GB and the V6 stores 24GB.

Cygnus Solutions announced the availability of Sourceware CD, a subscription program for the open-source software projects hosted by Cygnus, at http://sourceware.cygnus.com/. The Sourceware CD provides convenient access to the latest open-source technologies, such as eCos (Embedded Cygnus Operating System), the EGCS compiler, GDB debugger and Cygwin.

Pacific HiTech( http://www.turbolinux.com/) announced it has officially changed its name to TurboLinux, Inc. This change in corporate identity marks the next milestone in the company's ramp-up of its North American operations after announcements in May of partnerships with IBM and Computer Associates. TurboLinux is a global player in the Linux industry with offices in the U.S., Japan, China and Australia. Its product is currently the fastest-growing operating system platform in Japan. When TurboLinux 3.0 was introduced in Asia in December, it outsold Windows NT (2000) at Japanese retail point-of-sale outlets, according to the technology analyst firm Computer News.

Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers has invested in Linuxcare( http://www.linuxcare.com/), a San Francisco-based provider of technical support for Linux. Kleiner Perkins' general partner Ted Schlein is now a member of Linuxcare's board of directors. As part of the investment deal, Fernand Sarrat, former chief executive of Cylink, is Linuxcare's new Chief Executive. Arthur Tyde, Linuxcare's founder, will become Executive Vice President.

SuSE Linux 6.1 is now available at Best Buy, Borders, CompUSA, Fry's, Hastings, Micro Center and Waldenbooks—over 1700 locations nationwide. SuSE Linux can be found in the Operating Systems section of software retailers and in the Computer Books and Software sections of bookstores. SuSE Linux 6.1 features the 2.2.5 kernel and a comprehensive set of applications for home, office, technical and business users.

SuSE GmbH( http://www.suse.com/), the parent company of SuSE Inc., began offering a Business Partner Program targeted specifically at Linux system integrators and consultants. This program is in addition to the recently announced VAR and ISV Partner Programs launched at Spring Comdex '99 by SuSE Inc. The Business Partner Program includes priority support, training, a moderated private on-line forum, and access to a knowledge base, among other features. Qualified Partners are those who seek to offer Linux services and want to benefit from association with the SuSE brand.

O'Reilly & Associates, Digital Education Systems(DigitalEd) and barnesandnoble.com have signed an agreement for barnesandnoble.com to resell O'Reilly/DigitalEd web-based courses. As part of the agreement, barnesandnoble.com will be the exclusive on-line bookstore reselling the courses. The O'Reilly/DigitalEd courses, based on O'Reilly's best-selling technical books, provide a self-paced on-line learning experience that takes full advantage of the Web's interactivity. barnesandnoble.com will offer 12 courses in O'Reilly's web technology series, plus Introduction to the Palm Pilot.

Tripwire Security Systems( http://www.visualcomputing.com/) opened new offices in Washington DC, Chicago and San Francisco to support rapidly growing sales efforts across the U.S., as well as customers in those regions. Tripwire also announced a distributor agreement with Matsushita Inter-Techno Co. in Japan to create broader market awareness for TSS' Tripwire File Integrity Assessment software. The software can identify corrupted systems and files throughout the network, so the servers or workstations can be taken off-line and repaired quickly, minimizing down time and system administration time.