Red Hat expands certification program

Top Linux seller Red Hat, which already had a technical-skills certification program in place, has launched an initiative to let schools grant that certification. The Red Hat Academy is a license-free curriculum that high schools and colleges can use to train computer technicians and administer the Red Hat Certified Engineer test.

Guilford County Schools in North Carolina--the state where Red Hat is headquartered--is the first school to sign up for the program. Educational markets are a priority for Red Hat, which sees its software as providing a lower-cost alternative to Microsoft products and wants to nourish the growth of Linux expertise.