According to the latest Computer Weekly/SSL Quarterly
Survey of Appointments Data and Trends, the number of job
advertisements asking for Linux skills has increased by
50%.
With the Office of Government Commerce testing Linux-based systems
across the civil service and in the NHS, central government has
shown there is a future for staff with Linux skills. In addition,
the likes of Powys Council in Wales, Central Scotland Police and
the BBC are testing or have adopted Linux-based systems.
Laurent Lachal, analyst at Ovum, said, "Although there are still
relatively few IT staff certified in Linux, both supplier-specific
product training and bodies that supply generic training are seeing
a big increase in demand because there is a salary premium for
Linux.
"What would give Linux further impetus would be more support in the
universities and colleges [both in terms of using the software and
offering training courses]. They were previously reliant on Unix
systems and now they are reliant on Windows. Further support for
Linux in education would be good promotion for the technology."
Red Hat now has the biggest Linux training programme in the UK.
However, worldwide the number of people certified by Red Hat is
just 10,000, illustrating the fledgling nature of the
technology.
Jasmine Huxtable-Wright, European training manager at Red Hat, said
the company has been providing training since 1999. The most
established qualification offered by the company is "Red Hat
certified engineer".
One step down in the Red Hat training programme is "certified
technician", a newer qualification passed by 2,500 people
worldwide.
Huxtable-Wright said Red Hat's training compares well with other
bodies because it is purely performance-based. Candidates are not
given multiple-choice questions and are evaluated on their
practical abilities with real systems, combined with theoretical
knowledge.
The Red Hat certified engineer training course is usually completed
over three four-day sessions for candidates with no prior Linux or
Unix experience. Huxtable-Wright said IT professionals with Unix
experience may be able to take the Linux certified engineer exam
after just one four-day session.
Those wanting to be a Linux certified technician have to complete a
four-day course.
The cost of Red Hat training in the UK is £1,295 plus VAT for each
four-day session, with about 80% of courses taking place in
classrooms and 20% at customer sites. A small number of people take
the courses online.
The main rival to Red Hat is the Canada-based Linux Professional
Institute (LPI), which is gaining ground in the UK with its generic
Linux-based training. The LPI exams include multiple-choice
questions and are theory-led.
IBM is also starting to increase its Linux training options, said
Lachal. After its acquisition of SuSE Linux, Novell too is building
up a training presence in the UK, including application-based
training on Netware running Linux, for example.
As SuSE was a German company before it was bought by Novell, SuSE's
courses are already well-established in Germany, and Novell is now
attempting to put together a more even offering across
Europe.
Most industry predictions about the use of Linux in the enterprise
envisage mixed environments where IT professionals will be heavily
involved in integration projects linking Windows and Linux
environments.
Where there are shared databases using both operating systems
- such as a Microsoft SQL database and an Oracle Linux database -
the integration may prove to be tricky, although there are
established workarounds.
Web servers should be less tricky as Linux-based Apache systems
power the majority of internet traffic.
Key Linux skills
Integrating Windows and Linux
Transferable Unix skills
Openoffice and Staroffice desktop application suites
Mozilla web browser
SuSE Linux, Red Hat, and other forms of Linux operating
system
Java Linux desktop system
Apache server
IBM z/VM Linux for mainframes.