The two organizations come together to bring the open source community closer to the Azure cloud. Microsoft has been luring Linux players to its Azure cloud, and today the company signed a deal with The Linux Foundation to create the Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) Linux on Azure certification. The certification will be given to those individuals who pass both the Microsoft Exam 70-533 (Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions) and the Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator (LFCS) exam. The foundation said in a press statement: The two exams combine Linux administration and Microsoft Azure implementation skills and will demonstrate the candidate’s ability to design, implement and maintain complex cloud-enabled Linux solutions that take advantage of Microsoft Azure’s extensive features and capabilities. The certification will be issued by Microsoft and will be available starting today, Dec. 9, 2015. Commenting on this collaboration Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation said, “A Microsoft-issued certification that includes the Linux Foundation Certified SysAdmin exam will most definitely allow professionals to stand apart from their peers and allow them the opportunity to work on the most interesting technologies of our time.” More than 25% of Microsoft’s Azure customers are running Linux. And the company recently signed deal with ‘arch rival’ Red Hat to bring RHEL to Azure, signalling a major shift in the industry. For Microsoft, this certification is another step towards embracing Linux on Azure. The Linux Foundation and Microsoft work together on many projects and it will be interesting to see if eventually the Windows maker will join the foundation as a member. Related content opinion These are the most exciting Linux powered devices Did you know that Tesla cars ran on Linux?rn By Swapnil Bhartiya May 22, 2017 4 mins Linux Open Source opinion How Rackspace flew through turbulence in the private cloud Bryan Thompson, General Manager, OpenStack Private Cloud at Rackspace, talked about the second generation of cloud and some turbulence that OpenStack recently experienced.rn By Swapnil Bhartiya May 22, 2017 4 mins Open Source Cloud Computing Data Center opinion How Dell’s Project Sputnik came to life I met and talked to Barton George, the projectu2019s initiator and leader, to understand the backstory. By Swapnil Bhartiya May 22, 2017 10 mins Linux Open Source Computers and Peripherals opinion Elementary OS is trying to create a business model for open source app developers There is no dearth of Linux based operating systems, you will find dime a dozen. However there are only a few major ones that matter and elementary OS is among them. rn By Swapnil Bhartiya May 20, 2017 4 mins Linux Open Source Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe