Global Knowledge expands availability of ITIL courses to entire European region

_{London, UK, 4th June 2007}
^{Global Knowledge, Europe’s largest provider of training and enterprise learning services, has
announced the availability of its ITIL Service Management courses throughout the region.}

Customers from all over Europe will now be able to take advantage of Global Knowledge’s expertise in ITIL to develop their own skills in the popular methodology. A full schedule of ITIL courses will be available in all 11 countries in which Global Knowledge has training centres – the UK, Ireland, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.

Global Knowledge has extensive experience of delivering ITIL training and has been running courses
and special ITIL training projects for customers for many years, mainly in the UK, Netherlands and Germany.

 “With courses now available right across Europe, many more Global Knowledge customers will now be able to develop their ITIL capabilities”, says Alexander Hudson, European Product Director for IT and Business Skills.  “Global Knowledge always listens to customers and responds to their needs. In recent months we have noted the growing interest in ITIL amongst our enterprise clients. By making our ITIL courses available right across Europe, we are giving them the opportunity to develop their service management capabilities and increase their ability to meet best practice standards in every aspect
of their service delivery”.

The European-wide roll-out of ITIL courses is part of Global Knowledge’s on-going expansion of its professional services portfolio. The largest European education partner for both Cisco and Microsoft, Global Knowledge is the clear leader in IT training, and also offers education in other practices and methodologies including COBIT, PRINCE 2, and PMI-certified Project Management.

Now that ITIL version 3 is at hand, Global Knowledge is in the process of updating courses to the new version in local language. As well as specific courses introducing those new to ITIL to its structure and methods, there will be courses designed to help ITIL practitioners transition from version 2 to version 3. This ensures that enterprise customers can select the most suitable course for their teams and start benefiting from the latest implementation of ITIL as soon as possible.

ITIL version 3 moves away from a process model to a five-stage interlinked model that covers the complete lifecycle of service management. It focuses more on key evolving areas such as frastructure management and dynamic IT services. Hudson says that the new version of the methodology can deliver significant benefits. “In today’s fast-moving, increasingly competitive global economy, it is more important than ever to ensure that your IT functions are closely attuned to meeting business needs and taking the organisation forward. ITIL v3 can help you to ensure that
they are.”

Hudson says, “There is a great deal of interest in ITIL version 3 and the benefits which it undoubtedly brings to large organisations that are striving to deliver the highest standards of service in IT.
We shall be offering dates for upgrade courses in conjunction with ITIL version 2 courses which are already on offer, along with new versions of the foundation level courses. We expect demand for the upgrade courses to be strong.”

Richard Pharro, Managing Director of the APM Group, the specialist accreditation, certification and qualification organisation that administrates ITIL worldwide, who attended the recent launch of Global Knowledge’s ITIL version 3 course in the UK, indicated that new SME foundation exams will be available from the 11th June 2007 and higher level qualifications will follow in the next few months. Global Knowledge plans to offer these to its customers as soon as they become available.

In addition to their own delivery capabilities, Global Knowledge also works through partners for the delivery of more specialised and advanced ITIL training giving them further worldwide reach into USA, Japan, South Africa, the Middle East, Portugal, Brazil, Slovenia, Mexico, and India.

Contact
Felicity Bryant
felicitybryant@globalknowledge.net

Tel no: 0118 912 1853

About Global Knowledge
^{Global Knowledge is Europe’s leading provider of learning services for IT and management professionals. The company offers a broad array of hands-on IT, project management, and professional skills training featuring proprietary core and custom curriculum as well as content from leading companies, including Cisco, Microsoft, Nortel, Oracle, and Red Hat as well as generic networking, security, VoIP and wireless courses. Our management curriculum includes project management, professional skills, business analysis, and ITIL training. Delivered in classrooms, at private facilities,
or over the Internet, Global Knowledge has helped many blue-chip companies, organizations and government agencies leverage learning to turn knowledge into productivity for employees, customers, and channel partners. Founded in 1995, Global Knowledge employs more than 1100 people worldwide and is headquartered in Cary, N.C and EMEA headquarters in Wokingham, UK. The company is owned by New York-based investment firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson, and Stowe. Learn more at www.globalknowledge.net}