LinOra Corporation Announces First Linux Only Training Facilities.

Boise, Idaho - October 25, 2002: LinOra Corporation today announced the opening of their first Linux Training Facility in Boise, Idaho. The facility is unique in that all training classes are delivered on Linux based workstations and servers. Class attendees will use and learn on Linux, as opposed to other facilities that only simulate Linux, but still run Windowstm environments.

"There's not a broken window in the place! Only clear glass ones facing the beautiful mountains..." laughs Kelly Hogan, CEO and founder of LinOra Corporation. "We developed this facility so that enterprises that are serious about using Open Technologies can learn in an actual environment that uses Linux Technology. It also demonstrates that Linux is ready for the desktop, and corporations can begin to see how that integration works." stated Hogan. The facility, encompassing products from Red Hat, Oracle, Ximian, Borland and OpenOffice.org among others, offers classes in a variety of Linux technologies, as well as providing training in Java, Database Migrations, and Portal implementations.
"The other key component of our training facilities is that they are more stable, and less expensive to manage than training facilities built on closed, proprietary environments. We can offer more classes, and better curriculum without the issues associated with restrictive licenses, and do so at better rates than our competitors. These same kinds of cost saving metrics are ones that our customers are seeing as they deploy Linux technologies within their organizations." stated Hogan.

LinOra Corporation will mirror these facilities in Portland OR, Seattle WA, Spokane WA, and Medford OR over the next few months to provide more locations for their customers to utilize

LinOra Corporation Switches from Microsoft Windows to Linux Desktops Using Ximian Evolution.

Entire Company Moves to Linux Desktops for Increased Security, Cost Savings.

BOSTON, MA - September 16, 2002 (Ximian): Ximian, Inc., the leading open source desktop company, today announced that LinOra Corporation, a Boise, Idaho-based professional services firm, transitioned its desktop PC users across its entire office from Microsoft Windows to Linux-a move made possible by Ximian™ Evolution™, a groupware suite for personal information management that runs on Linux and UNIX-based systems. As a result of the switch, which took just three months to complete, LinOra eliminated common Windows virus threats while reducing licensing and maintenance costs considerably.

LinOra previously used PCs running Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office for all of its sales, development and operations personnel. After suffering repeated virus attacks and the associated downtime, LinOra began to look at a Linux alternative, including the Sun StarOffice application suite and the Mozilla web browser. To complete the transition from Windows to Linux, LinOra installed Ximian Evolution on its Linux systems. Ximian Evolution provides the critical collaboration and information management functionality essential to adoption of the Linux desktop. The premier personal and workgroup information management solution for Linux and UNIX-based systems, Ximian Evolution uniquely integrates email, calendar, contact and task list management in a powerful and easy-to-use application.

"After severe bouts with the NIMDA and Klez viruses, we wanted to mandate that all users be switched to Linux for added security and increased protection," said LinOra CEO Kelly Hogan. "While most of the pieces we needed to make the switch were available, we were missing a high-quality email and personal information management application to replace Microsoft Outlook. With its familiar interface and robust feature set, Evolution became the foundation product that enabled our entire company's changeover to Linux."

"Our customers are constantly looking for ways to cut costs while maintaining a level of continuity within their IT systems," said David Patrick, CEO and president of Ximian. "Many customers are frustrated with the licensing costs and security implications of Microsoft and are searching for a cost-effective alternative. With Ximian Desktop and Ximian Evolution, we provide corporate customers with a complete desktop environment, and LinOra is a testament to the fact that businesses can make the change to Linux. We expect to see the pace of corporate evaluations, pilots and deployments to continue to accelerate."

After the success of its own implementation, LinOra is now recommending Linux to its customers as a secure, cost-effective option for the desktop. The firm, which provides complete ERP implementation services and infrastructure planning assistance to large organizations and government agencies including the State of Idaho and San Diego County Office of Education, is also installing Ximian Desktop in its classroom facility. Employed primarily for in-depth technical training of customers, LinOra's classroom facilities are also used to instruct businesses considering migrating to Linux with new ways of managing their productivity environment through products like Ximian Desktop and Ximian Evolution. During these sessions, LinOra demonstrates how Ximian Desktop provides a stable, effective environment for managing business-critical applications, something LinOra itself learned after switching to Linux on the desktop.

LinOra Corporation Announces Migration Services Suite for Leveraging Oracle & Linux Technologies in TCO Reductions.

Boise, Idaho - July 10, 2002 (Pree Release Network): LinOra Corporation today announced a complete suite of service offerings designed to assist Oracle database and Applications customers with the process of migrating to Linux based solutions for increased stability, security, and significantly improved cost of ownership. The offering provides customers with a complete Project Methodology including an initial onsite evaluation of systems, TCO evaluation, recommended migration strategies, and facilities to test and prove the migration.

Key to this suite is the new capability for customers to test, stage, and perform their entire migration within LinOra's Testing & Development facility located in Boise ID. Kelly Hogan, CEO, LinOra Corporation said "The services suite and facility offer customers a way of validating the business return on a migration of this type, without having to disrupt any internal systems or acquire additional hardware or software licenses. Our facility contains equipment types from the majority of installed Oracle based shops, and customers can replicate their complete environment prior to actually making a conversion." In addition to the facility, LinOra also provides system administration training as part of the services offering to assist system administrators and DBAs with the transition. The suite also includes on-site consulting services to assist customers with their migrations and insure success of the process.

A longtime technical and project management leader in the Oracle ERP and Portal development community, LinOra Corporation's expanding suite of services is a natural extension of their expertise in Oracle's ERP packages. "Our customers were asking us ways to reduce costs, and the migration to Linux running on Intel based systems can significantly improve performance, as well as reduce overall operating expenses. Our initial customers are seeing drastic improvements in performance." Hogan, said.

The new facility built by LinOra Corporation, and its expanded suite of services comes as industry leaders Oracle, Red Hat and Dell team up and join a long list of companies substantiating Linux as an enterprise-ready operating system for mission critical business processes at significantly lower costs.

Last month three industry leaders announced their collective commitments to Linux for the enterprise with each company bringing distinct products and capabilities that deliver high reliability, enterprise-class Linux solutions on low cost, industry-standard hardware infrastructures and open-standards operating systems.

Is there a Microsoft competitor in the future?

Boise, Idaho - July, 2002 (Provizio): (pdf format) Download Here.