More than 20 years after Linus Torvalds developed Linux, the operating system remains a force in the computing industry. While Linux is not widely used on desktops (making up just over 2.4% of the overall desktop operating system market share in January 2019, according to NetMarketShare), it is extraordinarily strong on the web server side, where it enjoys a market share of almost 54%.

IT professionals invest considerable time learning about server computing for everything from installation, configuration, maintenance and virtualization to application support and security. This also means that many IT professionals are working with and around Linux operating systems daily, often alongside Windows and various UNIX OS brands as well.

The best of the Linux certifications vie for considerable mindshare among IT professionals and present an interesting mix of distribution- or brand-agnostic credentials alongside some pretty formidable vendor-specific credentials. There are multiple well-elaborated certification ladders available to those interested in learning, using, and mastering the Linux operating system environment and all the many bells and whistles it supports.

The results of a job search we conducted on several popular job posting sites show which Linux certifications employers are looking for when hiring new employees. While results vary from day to day (and job board to job board), this table reflects those Linux-related certifications that employers were seeking in the U.S.

Job Board Survey Results (in alphabetical order, by certification)

We found that for nearly every certification category listed above, the number of national jobs postings mentioning that certification has increased, in some cases substantially, since we surveyed the same job sites a year ago. Linux system administrators and engineers can expect average earnings in the low $70s and upward, depending on the job role. PayScale lists $70,194 as the average salary for Linux system administrators ($52,000/low and $101,000/high). Glassdoor reports earnings for Linux system administrators averaging $68,884, Linux system engineers at $99,348 and senior Linux system engineers at $122,071.

GCUX: GIAC Certified Unix Security Administrator

The Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC) program is part of SANS, a highly regarded source of instruction and research in the information security field. SANS also provides breaking news, operates a security alert service and serves on all kinds of government, research and academic information security task forces, working groups and industry organizations.

The SANS GIAC program encompasses 37 information security certifications across several categories, such as cyber defense, penetration testing, incident response and forensics, management, audit, legal, developer and industrial control systems. The GIAC Certified UNIX Security Administrator (GCUX) falls under its Cyber Defense category, and aims at professionals who install, configure, monitor, secure and audit both Unix and Linux systems.

GIAC certifications must be renewed every four years by earning 36 continuing professional experience (CPE) credits. Also, credential holders must pay a certification maintenance fee of $429 every four years.

GCUX Facts & Figures

Linux+ (CompTIA Linux+ Powered by LPI)

CompTIA exercises extraordinary certification clout at the entry level in many IT niches. This nonprofit has shown itself as willing to team up with more focused IT organizations, associations and consortia to combine their own market reach and visibility with niche smarts and subject matter expertise on loan from various partners.

One great example is the organization’s partnership with the Linux Professional Institute (LPI), which resulted in the CompTIA Linux+ Powered by LPI credential. This unique certification replaced the original CompTIA Linux+ certification in 2010 and uses the same two exams required for LPIC-1 certification.

As a result of this partnership, IT professionals who are serious about Linux can earn both the Linux+ credential and the LPIC-1 at the same time. Candidates must first earn the Linux+ credential and then submit a request to CompTIA asking that their results be sent to LPI to obtain the LPIC-1 certification. CompTIA exam records are confidential, so candidates must request that their records be forwarded to LPI when taking the CompTIA Linux+ Powered by LPI exams.

Earning the CompTIA Linux+ Powered by LPI requires candidates to pass two exams. The first covers system architecture, installation and package management, GNU and Unix commands, devices, file systems and standard file system hierarchies. The second exam digs into command shells, scripting and data management, user interfaces and desktops, administrative tasks and activities, basic system services, networking fundamentals and security topics. The CompTIA Linux+ Beta exam (XK1-004) closed as of October 22, 2018, though candidates who took the exam prior to the end date can still access those scores and apply a passing grade to their Linux+ certification. The replacement Linux+ 104 exam based on this beta exam will become publicly available in April of 2019.

Note that the Linux+ credential is valid for life.

CompTIA Linux+ Powered by LPI Facts & Figures

LPI (Linux Professional Institute) Certifications

The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) started up in October of 1999, almost one decade after Linus Torvalds began his pioneering efforts on the Linux kernel. Since then, LPI has become one of the leading certification providers on Linux syllabus and technologies. Given the organization’s distribution-agnostic approach to Linux, it offers excellent coverage of a platform that’s available in many forms and flavors in today’s marketplace.

The LPI Certification (LPIC) program is available in three distinct levels:

• LPIC-1: Linux Administrator: A  junior-level Linux certification with no prerequisites. Candidates must pass two exams that cover basic Linux skills, including installing and configuring Linux on a workstation, working at the command line, performing basic maintenance tasks, and making LAN or internet connections. While you can obtain the LPIC-1 credential directly from LPI, candidates should consider obtaining the CompTIA Linux+ Powered by LPI credential first, which qualifies you for both the Linux+ and LPIC-1 credentials.
• LPIC-2: Linux Engineer: An advanced-level Linux certification that requires an active LPIC-1 certification. Candidates must pass two exams that cover significant Linux skills and topics. The first exam covers the kernel, system startup, file system and devices, advanced storage administration, network configuration, system maintenance and capacity planning. The second exam covers web services, file sharing, network client management, email services, system security and troubleshooting, and domain name servers.
• LPIC-3: Linux Enterprise Professional Certification: A senior-level Linux certification that requires an active LPIC-2 and passing any single exam in the 300 series. Valid exam IDs currently include 300: Mixed Environment, 303: Security, and 304: Virtualization and High Availability. The Mixed Environment exam covers Samba (domain integration, user and group management, name services, share configuration and so forth), plus OpenLDAP, and working with Linux and Windows clients. The Security exam covers network, operations and application security, as well as cryptography and access controls. High availability cluster storage and management, along with virtualization, are covered in the Virtualization and High Availability exam.

In addition to the LPIC-1, 2 and 3 credentials, LPI also offers an entry-level credential, the Linux Essentials Professional Development Certificate (PDC). Linux Essentials focuses on foundational skills, such as creating and running simple scripts, restoring compressed backups and archives, working with the command line, Linux operating system basics, FOSS, and users/groups and file permissions for public and private directories. Linux Essentials is a great way to get started while gaining the skills and knowledge needed for the more challenging LPIC credentials.

LPI’s newest certification is the LPIC-OT DevOps Tools Engineer, which recognizes the effective use of tools for collaboration during system and software development. There are no prerequisites, and the single exam lasts for 90 minutes and has 60 questions.

LPIC credentials are worthwhile for IT pros whose chosen Linux distributions do not warrant their own certification programs, and for those seeking broad, vendor- and distribution-neutral coverage of Linux topics, tools and technologies. They are popular among IT pros and in demand among IT employers.

LPIC-1, LPIC-2 and LPIC-3 Facts & Figures

Oracle Linux OCA & OCP

When Oracle bought Sun Microsystems in 2010, it acquired a rich and deep UNIX tradition. Oracle started phasing out Solaris almost immediately after finalizing the Sun acquisition.

Today, Oracle offers associate- and professional-level certifications based on Linux rather than harking back to any kind of UNIX roots. These certifications retain enough of their Sun roots, however, so that courses are not mandatory prerequisites to taking the exams for the two Oracle Linux certifications currently available.

As with other vendor-specific Linux certifications, Oracle’s are most appealing to those who work with or around that distribution, or who wish to work for employers who use those distributions.

OCA and OCP Facts & Figures

Note: Though there is now an OCA and OCP exam available for Oracle Linux 7 System Administrator, Oracle has yet to announce this new certification or release the details of new Linux 7-based certification tests for OCA and OCP candidates.

Oracle Linux 6 Certified Implementation Specialist Certification

The Oracle Linux 6 Certified Implementation Specialist Certification is a certification available for those who sell, design, configure and implement Oracle Linux 6 solutions. Though any candidate can complete this certification, it is most typically achieved by Oracle partner implementation personnel with strong foundational experience in Linux and previous field experience implementing Linux 6.

Red Hat RHCSA, RHCE & RHCA

If there’s one major star in the vendor-specific Linux certification firmament, it’s got to be Red Hat. The company has major market presence and serious duration as a commercial provider of Linux platforms and technologies.

Red Hat offers a typical administrator, engineer, architect certification ladder. Unlike many other such programs, however, it offers highly regarded and valued credentials at each rung, along with demanding and hands-on oriented exams and an excellent training curriculum to match. All exams for the following Red Hat certifications are performance based and last two hours or longer.

The giveaway for Red Hat certifications is that all come with acronyms that start with RH, as follows:

• Red Hat Certified System Administrator (RHCSA): This foundation certification vets essential skills in handling files, working at the command line and using system documentation, along with managing systems (boot up, identifying processes, start/stop virtual machines, controlling services), configuring storage partitions and logical volumes, and more.
• Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE): This cornerstone certification is designed to test and validate the skills and knowledge necessary to work as a senior-level Linux system administrator. syllabus covered include advanced IP routing and services, managing runtime kernel behavior, working with iSCSI, automating maintenance tasks with shell scripts and working with networking services for Web, FTP, NFS, SMB, SMTP, SSH and more. An RHSCA is a prerequisite for the RHCE.
• Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA): Red Hat’s pinnacle certification offers two paths to certification, depending on which prerequisite advanced Red Hat certification credentials you have already completed: Red Hat Certified Enterprise Microservices Developers (RHCEMDs) and Red Hat Certified JBoss Developers (RHCJDs) can earn an RHCA in Enterprise Applications, and Red Hat Certified Engineers (RHCEs) can earn an RHCA in Infrastructure. In general, the five additional exams that must be passed to achieve the RCHA in either Infrastructure or in Enterprise Applications are specific to each area of specialization, though a few of the tests can be used to satisfy the five exam requirement in both RHCA tracks. A number of previously available certification exams have been discontinued for new RHCA candidates and renewals, though those exams can still be applied to the RHCA certification if you’ve already passed them. Find out more about discontinued exams that can be counted towards the RHCA credential on the RHCA page under the Candidate Guidance tab.

Because Red Hat Linux is widely used in the business world, the RHCA certification is an excellent choice for those interested in a more platform-focused path into the Linux world. Of course, for those who already work with or around Red Hat, it is a natural certification choice as well.

RHCSA, RHCE and RHCA Facts & Figures

Beyond the Top 5: More Linux certifications

Outside the top five Linux credentials and programs covered in this article, other Linux certifications may be worthy of your time and attention.

The Linux Foundation, a membership-based organization, promotes the development of the Linux kernel through collaboration, conferences and education. The organization’s small but respected certification program includes the Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator (LFCS) and the Linux Foundation Certified Engineer (LFCE).

IBM continues to offer a handful of Linux-related certifications. One certification of interest is the Certified Database Administrator, which continues to be in demand for those running DB2 on Linux, Unix and Windows systems.

Many industry experts, including Steven J. Vaughn-Nichols, a long-time user and expert on Linux and Unix operating systems, say that certifications can be an important ingredient in a job candidate’s qualifications. But interviewers should also pay close attention to how many Linux systems candidates have set up, managed or used to get a sense of the scale and scope of their experience.

In other words, when you see a web hosting service advertising for Linux jobs, they’re not looking for people who’ve installed and used Linux at home or in a small business setting; they’re looking for professionals who’ve set up and managed Linux in a highly distributed and virtualized data center environment, with lots of complex networking and services coming into the mix.

Despite the big jump in oil prices this year, Laredo Petroleum (NYSE:LPI) shareholders have not seen a growth in their investment. While share prices have seesawed through the year, investors have lost 15% in the past year. Meanwhile, the company's high-yield debt has declined to slightly below par, which for its 2028 bonds, is creating coupon yields and a yield to maturity of greater than 10%.

An examination of Laredo's balance sheet reveals several impressive changes during the first six months of 2022. First, the company has managed to simultaneously build its cash balance while investing in its capital assets (property, plant, and equipment). In the first six months of 2022, Laredo managed to spend $150 million more on assets than what was depreciated. These investments should help the company increase production and subsequently revenue.

What may be more impressive is that Laredo has generated excess cash and invested in its assets while paying down long-term debt by more than $125 million, resulting in equity growth of more than $160 million. While other companies may use the increased business to take risky investments and leverage themselves further, Laredo wisely managed its resources to strengthen its balance sheet.

From a profitability standpoint, Laredo seized the opportunity afforded by higher commodity prices and in its investments in assets to double its revenue and triple its operating income. These improvements translated to an explosion of operating cash flow by $350 million in the first six months of 2022 vs the same time period of 2021. It's important to recognize that derivative activity helped buoy the company's cash flow in 2021 but did not adversely impact Laredo's cash flow in 2022.

Laredo was able to use its excess operating cash flow to increase its capital expenditures (hence the increase in net property, plant, and equipment) and still generate positive free cash flow of $250 million in the first six months of 2022. The increased free cash flow allowed Laredo to pay off its senior secured credit facility (a $105 million reduction in debt) and to pay off an additional $32 million in debt. Bondholders can be assured of their investment if the company continues to generate robust cash flow.

In addition to Laredo's paying off its senior secured credit facility, the company is not facing a new debt maturity until January 2025 when nearly half of its $1.3 billion debt load comes due. Even if the credit markets are inaccessible to Laredo, the company's senior secured facility can be drawn up to $2 billion, proving the company with enough liquidity to cover its long-term debt obligations.

While one obvious risk to the company is energy prices, another is M&A. Should Laredo undertake a risky merger or acquisition involving further leverage, it could compromise the ability of the company to service its debt. The energy sector is littered with exact bankruptcies on the back end of a merger. Such an action by Laredo would have me seriously reconsidering my investment.

Due to Laredo already paying back some of its debt this year, investors should not expect significant price declines in its bonds as the company is expected to continue paying back debt.

CUSIP: 516806AG1

Price: $98.72

Coupon: 10.125%

Yield to Maturity: 10.44%

Maturity Date: 1/15/2028

Credit Rating (Moody's/S&P): B3/B

You can get an updated price of this bond by checking out its page on FINRA.

© 2022 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

The total cryptocurrency exposures reported by 19 predominantly U.S. banks represented 9.4B euros ($9B), or a just 0.14% of total exposures, according to a exact study by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the primary global standard setter for banking regulations.

That figure shrank to 0.01% across all 182 banks considered for the exercise, including those that did not report crypto exposure.

The study was based on a new crypto data collection template sent to a number of banks and designed to support the committee’s two documents on the prudential treatment of banks’ cryptoasset exposures it published in June 2021 and June 2022. Those two documents refer to the Basel Committee's efforts to toughen rules that would determine how depository institutions could enter crypto.

The primary crypto exposures featured bitcoin (BTC-USD) (31%) and ethereum (ETH-USD) (22%) as well as other instruments based on those tokens (35%), the study found. The reported exposures spanned an array of crypto-linked banking activities, such as clearing, lending, custody and market making. Most banks provided crypto custody or wallet services, followed by client trading of cryptos or crypto derivatives.

Given the speediness of the crypto market evolution, it's hard to discover whether some banks have under- or over-reported their crypto exposures.

With that being said, the results of the study, "while they are helpful in providing a broad indication of banks’ cryptoasset activity, should interpreted with a degree of caution,” the committee warned, also noting the small number of banks replying didn't help provide a more complete picture.

Banks of all sizes have increasingly deepened their involvement in the cryptosphere - despite a market downturn - as firms come to the realization that blockchain technologies (not necessarily the underlying crypto) could be "here to stay" amid growing interest and usage.

SVB Financial (NASDAQ:SIVB), Customers Bancorp (NYSE:CUBI), Metropolitan Bank (NYSE:MCB), Signature Bank (NASDAQ:SBNY), Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK), BNP Paribas (OTCQX:BNPQF) (OTCQX:BNPQY) and Leumi (OTCPK:BLMIF) are among some of the banks that have taken part in the decentralized finance sector in exact months.

Recall BNY Mellon (BK) reportedly planned to introduce a crypto custody platform later in 2022 in a move that would allow its clients to hold both bitcoin (BTC-USD) and ether (ETH-USD) in digital wallets. And French lender BNP Paribas (OTCQX:BNPQF) (OTCQX:BNPQY) recently partnered with Metaco, a Swiss crypto infrastructure firm that specializes in crypto custody.

In August, the Federal Reserve introduced new guidelines for crypto-focused banks.

FLORHAM PARK, N.J., Sept. 22, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cellectar Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLRB), a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of targeted treatments for cancer, today announced it has been awarded $1.98 million in additional grant funding to expand its ongoing Phase 1 study of iopofosine I 131 (iopofosine) in children and adolescents with inoperable relapsed or refractory high grade gliomas (HGGs).

The grant was awarded by the National Institute of Health’s National Cancer Institute (NCI) based upon the initial signals of efficacy in the Phase 1 study, which is an international, open-label, dose escalation, safety study. The funding allows for an expansion from the Part 1a into the Part 1b portion of the company’s ongoing Phase 1 pediatric study. To accelerate development, the study is designed as a two-part approach. The currently ongoing Phase 1a is designed to determine the safety, tolerability, and initial efficacy of iopofosine in pediatric brain tumors whereas the Phase 1b is designed to identify the dose and dosing regimen that results in optimal efficacy. Previously announced preliminary data demonstrated therapeutic responses to iopofosine as evidenced by changes in multiple tumor parameters and patients experiencing extended progression free survival.

“The approximately $2 million non-dilutive grant funding from the NCI’s peer reviewed process is additional validation that iopofosine has shown encouraging potential in this very difficult to treat patient population. Unfortunately, patients with HGGs often have very poor prognoses, with limited treatment options,” said James Caruso, president and CEO of Cellectar. “We continue to be encouraged by the ability of iopofosine to cross the blood brain barrier, deliver sufficient radiation to the tumor and demonstrate early efficacy signals. We remain steadfastly committed to the thoughtful development of iopofosine in this devastating indication.”

Pediatric HGGs are a collection of aggressive brain and central nervous system tumor subtypes including diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas, glioblastomas, astrocytomas and ependymomas. Children with these tumors have very poor prognoses, with typical progression-free survival of only a few months and a 5-year survival of less than 30%.

About iopofosine I-131
Iopofosine is a small-molecule Phospholipid Drug Conjugate™ designed to provide targeted delivery of iodine-131 (radioisotope) directly to cancer cells, while limiting exposure to healthy cells. We believe this profile differentiates iopofosine from many traditional on-market treatments. Iopofosine is currently being evaluated in the CLOVER-WaM Phase 2 pivotal study in patients with relapsed/refractory (r/r) Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia (WM), a Phase 2b study in r/r multiple myeloma (MM) patients and the CLOVER-2 Phase 1 study for a variety of pediatric cancers. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted iopofosine Fast Track Designation for WM patients having received two or more prior treatment regimens, as well as r/r MM and r/r diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Orphan Drug Designations (ODDs) have been granted for WM, MM, neuroblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewing’s sarcoma and osteosarcoma. Iopofosine was also granted Rare Pediatric Disease Designation (RPDD) for the treatment of neuroblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewing’s sarcoma and osteosarcoma. The European Commission granted an ODDs for r/r MM and WM.

About Cellectar Biosciences, Inc.
Cellectar Biosciences is focused on the discovery and development of drugs for the treatment of cancer. The company is developing proprietary drugs independently and through research and development collaborations. The company’s core objective is to leverage its proprietary Phospholipid Drug Conjugate™ (PDC) delivery platform to develop PDCs that specifically target cancer cells to deliver improved efficacy and better safety as a result of fewer off-target effects. The company’s PDC platform possesses the potential for the discovery and development of the next-generation of cancer-targeting treatments, and it plans to develop PDCs independently and through research and development collaborations.

The company’s product pipeline includes iopofosine, a small-molecule PDC designed to provide targeted delivery of iodine-131 (radioisotope), proprietary preclinical PDC chemotherapeutic programs and multiple partnered PDC assets. The company is currently investigating iopofosine in a global, open-label, pivotal expansion cohort in relapsed or refractory WM patients who have received at least two prior lines of therapy, including those who have failed or had a suboptimal response to Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitors. The WM cohort will enroll up to 50 patients to evaluate the efficacy and safety of iopofosine for marketing approval. The company is also evaluating iopofosine in highly refractory multiple myeloma patients in its Phase 2 CLOVER-1 study and relapsed/refractory pediatric cancer patients with sarcomas or brain tumors in the Phase 1 CLOVER-2 study.

The Phase 1 pediatric study is an open-label, sequential-group, dose-escalation study to evaluate the safety and tolerability of iopofosine in children and adolescents with relapsed or refractory cancers, including malignant brain tumors, neuroblastoma, sarcomas, and lymphomas (including Hodgkin’s lymphoma). The Phase 1 study is being conducted internationally at seven leading pediatric cancer centers.

For more information, please visit www.cellectar.com and www.wmclinicaltrial.com or join the conversation by liking and following us on the company’s social media channels: Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Forward-Looking Statement Disclaimer

This news release contains forward-looking statements. You can identify these statements by our use of words such as "may," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "could," "estimate," "continue," "plans," or their negatives or cognates. These statements are only estimates and predictions and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause genuine future experience and results to differ materially from the statements made. These statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations as to such future outcomes including our expectations of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Drug discovery and development involve a high degree of risk. Factors that might cause such a material difference include, among others, uncertainties related to the ability to raise additional capital, uncertainties related to the disruptions at our sole source supplier of iopofosine, the ability to attract and retain partners for our technologies, the identification of lead compounds, the successful preclinical development thereof, patient enrollment and the completion of clinical studies, the FDA review process and other government regulation, our ability to maintain orphan drug designation in the United States for iopofosine, the volatile market for priority review vouchers, our pharmaceutical collaborators' ability to successfully develop and commercialize drug candidates, competition from other pharmaceutical companies, product pricing and third-party reimbursement. A complete description of risks and uncertainties related to our business is contained in our periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission including our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, and our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2022, when filed. These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and we disclaim any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements.

Contacts

Investors:
Monique Kosse
Managing Director
LifeSci Advisors
212-915-3820
monique@lifesciadvisors.com

© 2022 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.