Kieran O'Shaughnessy, regional general manager for SCO in Australia and New Zealand, said the move was part of a strategic approach to closing the Linux skills gap.
"We are seeing an increase in the federal government, and the big end of town is starting to pay more attention to Linux-based solutions," O'Shaughnessy said. "There was the expectation that Linux would start to take off in the small business sector, and that is certainly happening especially in the back-office servery type environment where businesses are opting for Linux because they are concerned about being locked into a single vendor and being driven out by the cost associated with Microsoft."
According to O'Shaughnessy such increased interest will fuel the need for Linux skills.
"There is certainly a need for more skills in the marketplace," O'Shaughnessy said. "Murdoch has been very proactive in providing an academic degree and industry recognised qualification, the training will begin to be provided from next semester."
The recently re-branded SCO is also looking into opportunities in the area of purpose-built embedded development.
"We are launching a new initiave which to provide for any custom requirement which requires a cut down or small foot operating system," O'Shaughnessy said. "We are adding it to our offerings, for customers with specific requirements, however we will continue to provide both server and desktop offerings."
As the IT sysop at the Murdoch UNI student union, this is fantastic news. Go TUX!