Red hat linux cbt

SmartForce Announces Linux E-Learning Offerings; Curriculum to Support Linux Professional Institute and Red Hat Certifications

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 21, 2000

SmartForce, the e-Learning company (Nasdaq:SMTF), formerly CBT Systems, announced today e-Learning offerings for the Linux open source operating system.

The curriculum will support the Linux certification paths being defined by the Linux Professional Institute (LPI), the leading vendor-neutral Linux certification organization, as well as Red Hat's RHCE Linux certification.

SmartForce also announced that it has become a sponsor of LPI, as an element of SmartForce's commitment to support open source development and certification programs.

"The availability of a high-quality, comprehensive e-Learning offering for the Linux environment is a great contribution to the open source movement," said Dan York, chairman of the Linux Professional Institute. "It is particularly significant that SmartForce, as a market leader in the e-Learning industry, is demonstrating such a commitment to the Linux environment.

"SmartForce's sponsorship of the LPI and the launch of its Linux e-Learning solutions will help us meet a key challenge to the continued growth of Linux operating systems -- the need for more Linux-trained professionals."

Linux, the open source operating system initially developed by Linus Torvalds, has garnered a significant level of attention in the marketplace over the last year. As Linux has gained in prominence and more enterprises are looking to deploy Linux as part of their environments, there has developed an increasing need for skilled Linux professionals.

It is this need that SmartForce's e-Learning offerings for Linux are intended to address.

The new offerings include SmartCourses on Linux, as well as a variety of other learning events, streaming media SmartSeminars, online live 24x7 access to mentoring on Linux by subject matter experts and articles and White Papers.

"Open source technologies in general, and Linux in particular, are an area of increasing focus for information technology professionals," stated Greg Priest, president and CEO of SmartForce.

"SmartForce's e-Learning offerings on Linux present system administrators and technical users with current, educationally rich content to develop and enhance the skills necessary to meet the growing demand for qualified Linux professionals."

SmartForce redefined the computer-based learning industry on Oct. 19 when it introduced its best-of-breed SmartForce e-Learning solution, which enables users to access and engage in thousands of learning events via the Internet. Features include online mentors, links to relevant learning events and access to the industry's largest course catalogue. (See Oct. 19 release for full details.)

About the Linux Professional Institute

The Linux Professional Institute is a community project to develop professional certification for the Linux operating system.

Established as a non-profit organization focused on defining distribution-neutral and vendor-neutral certification standards, LPI involves a unique blend of hundreds of volunteers and professionals in many different capacities and encourages public involvement through mailing lists and its Web site of www.lpi.org.

LPI's multi-level program of exams is administered globally through test centers operated by Virtual University Enterprises (VUE), a division of NCS (Nasdaq:NLCS).

Major financial sponsorship of LPI is from Platinum Sponsors of Caldera Systems (Nasdaq:CALD), IBM (NYSE:IBM), Linuxcare, Maxspeed, SGI (NYSE:SGI), SuSE Linux AG and TurboLinux as well as the Gold Sponsors Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HWP) and Wave Technologies (Nasdaq:WAVT).

More information can be obtained at http://www.lpi.org

About SmartForce

SmartForce, the e-Learning company, formally CBT Systems, provides integrated enterprise e-Learning solutions. SmartForce e-Learning is available as a fully hosted Internet environment through an Internet rental model. With more than 2,500 major corporate customers, SmartForce e-Learning solutions bring the power of the Internet to the critical training business process.

The SmartForce e-Learning environment is also used by leading Internet, software and other companies to provide the infrastructure to support their e-Learning initiatives. SmartForce is quoted on the NASDAQ National Market under the symbol "SMTF."

The company, which has more than 1,300 employees worldwide, has corporate headquarters at 900 Chesapeake Drive, Redwood City, Calif., 94063. Phone: 650/817-5900. Fax: 650/817-5061. Web site: www.smartforce.com.

Note to Editors: Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States and other countries. "Linux Professional Institute" and the LPI logo are trademarks of Linux Professional Institute, Inc.

SmartForce, SmartForce e-Learning and the SmartForce logo are trademarks of SmartForce. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.