Novell, Canonical Bolster Linux Certification and Training Efforts
In separate moves, Canonical and Novell are taking steps to bolster their respective Linux training and certification efforts. Here's a look at the moves, and the implications for channel partners.
As The VAR Guy has pointed out, Canonical and Novell each have been working hard to recruit more ISVs (independent software vendors) to compete more effectively against Red Hat Enterprise Linux in business. At the same time, Canonical and Novell each are making training and certification moves.
Novell earlier today partnered up with the Linux Professional Institute (LPI). Under terms of the partnership:
- Linux professionals who have earned their LPIC-1 status will also satisfy the requirements for the Novell Certified Linux Administrator (CLA) certification.
- Novell Training Services has formally agreed to include required LPIC-1 learning objectives in its CLA course training material.
- Together, Novell and LPI want to develop the "Linux workforce of the future," according to Jim Lacey, president and CEO of LPI.
True believers include SwitchDesk, which has vowed to promote LPI and Novell training to its customer base.
Canonical Bolsters Ubuntu Training
Meanwhile, Canonical continues to expand its training courses for Ubuntu customers and channel partners.
According to Billy Cina, Canonical’s Training Programmes Manager:
- All of the Ubuntu courses are based on the LTS release, "so we are currently full steam ahead to ensure that the training courses are updated as close to the Ubuntu 10.04 release in April as possible."
- Canonical launched the Deploying Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud course in October 2009, and the course is "generating a lot of interest," Cina says. "It is the only course of its kind and is available through Ubuntu Training Partners or online instructor-led classes." Courses are held for either 2 days in a classroom environment or 4 days in 4 hour sessions through Canonical's livelabs. The third online session will run between March 1-4, 2010.
- Canonical includes Landscape training in all the professional courses; Landscape is Canonical's remote management platform for Ubuntu systems. It's available in both a SaaS and on-premise option.
Heated Competition
The VAR Guy will keep tabs on the Novell and Canonical training efforts. But he needs to give equal time to Red Hat… the company says nearly 40,000 professionals are now certified on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Red Hat has also launched a certification program for cloud partners, and the company now drives more than 60 percent of its revenues through the channel, according to CEO Jim Whitehurst.
Those are lofty numbers… but Novell and Canonical are giving chase.
Novell, Red Hat and Canonical are sponsors of the three most popular and well-polished Linux distributions. Red Hat has a long and important history in open source and Linux and leads the other two as the leader in the Linux server market. Novell, which acquired SUSE in 2004, was one of the first European Linux distributions to attract widespread adoption. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is the other “data center” grade Linux distribution for commercial Linux users besides Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Canonical’s Ubuntu is without a doubt the best desktop Linux distro in terms of ease of installation, updating and general use but they are a distant third in the Linux server market.
All three of these distros do have their weakneses…Red Hat really lacks a popular desktop distro and what they have is not free. Novell has a very decent business class desktop distro in SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop, but you must pay a subscription after 60 days to keep receiving updates. Both Red Hat and Novell do have community Linux distros…Red Hat’s Fedora distro is more geared to the “advanced” Linux user, while Novell’s openSUSE.org distro is quite accessible to both new and experienced users. Canonical’s Ubuntu distro is the hands down leading Linux desktop distro. It is free and you can purchase support if you need it. Ubuntu server is the weakest of the three Linux server distros (SLES, RHEL and Ubuntu) but has jumped out in front on integration with the Eucalyptus project so it can emulate the Amazon cloud. Having three really strong commercial Linux distro sponsors is a good thing for Linux and open source software.
When it comes to training, Red Hat and Novell have a long standing commitment to training and support. Ubuntu is just taking its first steps in offering training. Both Red Hat and Novell also have a long standing relationship with the reseller partner channel. Again, Ubuntu is just getting started in courting channel partners. All three would be wise to focus on training certs that are vendor neutral like those from CompTIA and LPI. Novell has previously worked with CompTIA and is now working with LPI to strengthen the value of vendor neutral certifications. This effort is to be applauded and I would encourage Novell, Red Hat and Canonical to work with CompTIA and LPI on developing certifications for cloud computing, which I think will be the next huge market opportunity for IT certifications.
Tim Wessels
Tim: Open source typically triggers strongly opinioned reader comments based on emotions rather than facts. In this particular case, The VAR Guy wants to offer you some kudos for recapping the three distributions pretty darn well.
And yes, The VAR Guy thinks CompTIA needs to assist the open source world. You’ve raised a great point on that topic. In addition to cloud guidance, The VAR Guy hopes CompTIA offers some LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP, etc…) guidance.
Base Linux certification seems to be a starting point these days. Cloud, LAMP, SaaS… all natural next moves.
Thanks again for raising some strong points.
-TVG
[…] big news on the training front was that Novell and Canonical are joining forces to bolster Linux Certification and training efforts to compete with Red […]
[…] even though it#8217;s not necessarily the case. In any event, we have found some blog posts on the subject, but there is hardly any news coverage (unless ComputerWorld (IDG) UK counts ). Novell earlier […]
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