Certification Magazine ranks CCIE as "Best Hands-On Program" and "Most Technically Advanced Program"
SAN JOSE, Calif., November 4, 2003 - Cisco Systems, Inc.Ž today honored 31 IT professionals with a special award marking their 10th anniversary as members of the highly elite Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert (CCIEŽ) program, which celebrates 10 years of excellence. Ten years ago these networking pioneers agreed to take part in an emerging program to prove their ability to configure, test and troubleshoot real-world networking equipment.
Today the CCIE program is widely considered to be the industry's most rigorous IT certification program and those first pioneers maintain their expert standing by fulfilling recertification requirements every two years. For the past decade, CCIE certification has stood for the superior commitment and effort required for successful implementation of the world's most sophisticated networking solutions.
"Certifications provide organizations assurance that IT projects will be completed on time and on budget," said Cushing Anderson, program director, IT education and certification research, International Data Corporation (IDC). "At a time when many organizations have limited IT resources, CCIE certified individuals are able to work more efficiently and reduce the implementation risk of IT solutions in the enterprise. More and more, complex technical environments require a higher level expertise for IT professionals and CCIE is widely seen as the pinnacle of IT certification programs."
Certification Magazine this month ranked CCIE as "Best Hands-On Program" and "Most Technically Advanced Program" in the publication's Certification Top 10 Lists. In the past year, Cisco's CCIE program has earned accolades from CertCities, a highly respected industry trade publication, for "Best Overall Certification Program" and "Best High Level Certification." The CCIE program was also voted number one by IT professionals in the CertCities annual survey of the "10 Hottest Certifications for 2003."
Certified CCIEs are an elite group of networking professionals who have passed Cisco's rigorous certification exams, including a rigorous hands-on lab exam that tests the ability to configure and troubleshoot actual networking equipment in real-world situations. CCIE certification identifies internetworking professionals with the highest level of expertise, capable of tackling the most challenging assignments in their field. The CCIE program evolves with the industry, focusing on current technologies and applications, and updating its testing methodologies to ensure program quality, relevance and value. Today, CCIE certification is attained in technical specialties referred to as tracks.
"Having CCIE certified individuals on staff enhances a company's ability to meet technology implementation timelines, budget goals, and business objectives, while increasing productivity, competitiveness and organizational performance," said Mike Reid, manager of the CCIE program. "We are proud to have just over 10,000 CCIE certified individuals across the world involved in some of the most complex networking projects being implemented today."
About CCIE Certification Tracks
CCIE Routing and Switching indicates expert level knowledge of networking across various LAN and WAN interfaces and a variety of routers and switches. Experts in Routing and Switching solve complex connectivity problems and apply technology solutions to increase bandwidth, improve response times, maximize performance, improve security, and support global applications.
CCIE Service Provider verifies expert level knowledge and skill in the fundamentals of IP and core IP technologies such as unicast IP routing, QoS, multicast, MPLS, MPLS VPNs, traffic engineering, multi-protocol BGP, etc., as well as specialized knowledge in at least one of the networking areas specific to service providers. These areas include Dial, DSL, Cable, Optical, WAN Switching, and IP Telephony.
CCIE Security confirms expert level knowledge and skill in configuring and maintaining secure networks. CCIE Security certified individuals are experts in the fundamentals of IP and IP routing, as well as the specific area of security protocols and applications.
CCIE Voice authenticates expert level knowledge and skill in configuring and maintaining VoIP solutions in the enterprise environment. CCIE Voice certified individuals are experts in key technologies and products involved in a Voice over IP solution.