FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For additional information:
Sheldon Rose Sacke & Associates Inc. (for LPI) 416-218-1102 sheldonr@sackepr.com	UnitedLinux Margot Rodger 781-876-6299 mrodger@virtualmgmt.com

LINUX PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTE AND UNITEDLINUX
JOIN FORCES TO CREATE NEW UNITEDLINUX PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION PROGRAM

NEW YORK - Jan. 22, 2003 - The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) (www.lpi.org), the premier professional certification program for the Linux community, and UnitedLinux LLC (www.unitedlinux.com), an industry initiative to streamline Linux development and certification around a global, uniform distribution, have signed a cooperative agreement to market a UnitedLinux professional certification program.

Under the memorandum of understanding, LPI and UnitedLinux will work jointly to create new UnitedLinux specific exams, which, when passed together with the current LPI Levels 1 and 2 exams, will lead to two new UnitedLinux certifications. The new exams are expected to be available during the first quarter of 2003:

• LPI's current Level 1 program (101 and 102), with the addition of a 103 UnitedLinux-specific exam, will result in a UnitedLinux Certified Professional (ULCP) certification.
• The existing LPI Level 2 program (201 and 202), with the addition of a 203 UnitedLinux-specific exam, will result in a UnitedLinux Certified Expert (ULCE) certification.

"This agreement solidifies our vendor-neutral position within the Linux community and demonstrates the value of our program as a foundation for organizations like UnitedLinux to use to build their own certification programs," said LPI's president Evan Leibovitch. "Our agreement also shows the open source community working together to achieve collective success. We look forward to helping create future industry recognition and provide an organizational path for IT professionals."

"Partnering with LPI will offer UnitedLinux adopters access to high-quality professional resources, so that they can deploy products powered by UnitedLinux with confidence," said Paula Hunter, general manager of UnitedLinux. "Our agreement with LPI compliments the training programs our founding members will offer to the marketplace."

LPI's mandate is to design and deliver a certification program from within the Linux community, using both volunteer and professional resources. Linux certification topped the list of certifications expected to rise in importance most quickly, according to the 2002 CRN Certification study. LPI has also been selected as the winner, for the second consecutive year, of the Linux Journal's annual Editors' Choice Awards in the Training and Certification category. LPI has delivered over 20,000 Level 1 and Level 2 certification exams globally in just two years since the program's inception.

Founding companies of UnitedLinux are Linux industry leaders Conectiva S.A., The SCO Group (NASDAQ:SCOX), SuSE Linux AG, and Turbolinux, Inc. UnitedLinux Version 1.0, released in November, is the engine that powers products sold by the four companies, each with its own value-add features, services and pricing.

About Linux Professional Institute
The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) develops professional certification for the Linux operating system independent of software vendors or training providers. Established as an international non-profit organization in 1999 by the Linux community, LPI develops accessible, internationally recognized certification programs, which have earned the respect of vendors, employers and administrators. LPI's activities involve hundreds of volunteers and professionals throughout the world in many different capacities, and the group encourages active public involvement through mailing lists and its website at www.lpi.org. LPI's multi-level program of exams is administered globally through Virtual University Enterprises (VUE) and Prometric testing centers. LPI's major financial sponsors are Platinum Sponsors IBM (NYSE:IBM), Linuxcare, Maxspeed, The SCO Group (NASDAQ:SCOX), SGI (NYSE:SGI), SuSE Linux AG and TurboLinux, as well as Gold Sponsors Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) and Wave Technologies.

About UnitedLinux
UnitedLinux is a partnership of industry-leading Linux companies combining their intellectual property, geographic mind share, sales, support and marketing expertise to produce a uniform distribution of Linux designed for business. UnitedLinux applies the collaborative development model of open source to the business model to enable a one-stop shop for developers, partners and customers to install, support and maintain quality business solutions based on Linux anywhere in the world. UnitedLinux is actively recruiting membership for both industry software developers and those who provide Linux as an integral part of their business solutions. For more information, visit http://www.unitedlinux.com or call UnitedLinux at
+1-781-876-8989.

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