Representatives from HP, IBM, Microsoft, Sun, Novell, the Linux Professional Institutes, and the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) have joined to form an IT certification group.

CompTIA announced Wednesday that the new Information Technology Certification Council (ITCC) would work toward growing professional certifications and ensuring a qualified workforce to meet global technology needs. Education provider Kaplan and test development and delivery providers Pearson VUE and Prometric also helped found the group.

Members hope it will to become the "go-to" resource for employers, government leaders, academics, and others who want information about IT certification. The group also plans to improve exam security, training to testing ratios, and perceptions about the value of IT certification and its return on investment. Finally, the ITCC will embark on an industry-wide marketing campaign.

Bill Horzempa, ITCC chair and director of the Worldwide HP Certified Professional Program at HP, said that the council hopes to increase the value of certification.

"We want our customers and partners to know that we, as industry leaders, are providing them with well-equipped people to do the job," he said in a prepared statement.

Neill Hopkins, VP of skills development for CompTIA, said organizations that benefit the most from their investment in technology understand that certified IT professionals have the skills to run IT infrastructures efficiently and reliably.

"The positive impact of IT certification is measurable in many ways: greater network availability; higher worker productivity; and improved security are just a few examples," he said in a statement. "All of these factors have a positive impact on a business's financial bottom line. That's why more and more organizations view IT certifications as a business necessity."