LPI Announces New Affiliates in the Middle East

"The network of LPI affiliates continues to grow and is indicative of the importance of professional standards for the further adoption and development of Linux and Open Source world wide. We were very successful last year in recruiting and enabling new partnerships through deliberate and focused regional discussions. We will continue this effort in 2008," said Jim Lacey, President and CEO of the Linux Professional Institute. Mr. Lacey pointed out that LPI has doubled the number of its affiliates and training partners in 2007.

Teknow Group Limited (TKG) based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be responsible for developing LPI activities in UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Iran as LPI-Middle East (http://www.lpi.org/middle_east). TEKNOW Group (http://www.teknowgroup.com) is a group of companies with extensive expertise and experience in consultancy, training and certification programs.

“We are very enthusiastic about promoting LPI in the region,” said Feras Abou Shackra, Managing Partner for TKG. “We see enormous opportunities for Linux and Open Source in the Middle East--a region experiencing tremendous growth and high demand for professional certifications and expertise.”

Dr. Elnaser Abdelwahab of LPI-Egypt (http://www.lpi.org/egypt) also noted the growing importance of professional Linux certification in the region: "Egypt is currently on the brink of a new IT era in which more and more technical knowledge will have to be acquired, developed and exported. Egypt's role as a major technical provider throughout the region requires an in-depth knowledge of open source technologies especially those relying on Linux. LPI's vendor independence makes it a logical choice for anybody wanting to enhance Linux and Open Source use in the community." Dr. Abdelwahab is General Manager of Database Consulting Group of Nasr City-Cairo, Egypt (http://www.dbcon.net) which will lead the activities of LPI-Egypt.

Representing LPI in Pakistan will be Fouad Riaz Bajwa (see: http://www.lpipakistan.org/about_lpi_pakistan). Fouad Riaz Bajwa is well-regarded in Pakistan for his work with that country's Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) community and for his work promoting FOSS throughout the South Asian region. Fouad is the co-founder of iFOSSF International Free and Open Source Software Foundation (see:http://ifossf.org/) and is an active member of the BytesForAll South Asia Network (http://www.bytesforall.net/).

"Linux and Open Source Software (OSS) technologies and platforms have been a core part of Pakistan's IT ecosystem particularly in training programs at almost all IT faculties in the country's universities as well as through extensive support for research and development by the government. With the launch of LPI-Pakistan, local Linux and OSS users and professionals will now be geared towards obtaining world class industry recognized skills that will further strengthen Linux and OSS adoption in the region," said Fouad Riaz Bajwa.

The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) is globally supported by the IT industry, enterprise and professionals and within government and the educational community. LPI's certification program is delivered worldwide in multiple languages at over 7,000 testing locations and is supported by an affiliate network spanning five continents. Since the programs inception, LPI has delivered over 170,000 exams and 53,000+ LPIC certifications around the world.