Identifies Best-in-Class Troubleshooters
MENLO PARK, Calif., Sept. 27, 1993 -- Cisco Systems has inaugurated aprogram to identify individuals within its customer and partner organizationswho can effectively diagnose and resolve the problems inherent in today'slarge and complex internetworks.
The Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) program recognizes the`best-in-class' engineers who possess the technical knowledge and skills totroubleshoot internetworks, and creates a special relationship betweenthese experts and Cisco's support team.
"The CCIE Program begins where other vendors' certification programsleave off," said John Chambers, Cisco senior vice president. "It can becompared to completing a university course versus taking college entranceexams. Prospective CCIE candidates must be highly qualified just to enterthe program, and then, after taking an intensive troubleshooting course,must pass a rigorous hands-on lab test conducted by senior support engineers.This very stringent set of requirements ensures that only the bestprofessionals are selected."
Eligible candidates for the CCIE program include high-level engineersand systems analysts who have an extensive background in internetworking and a solid understanding of TCP/IP,OSI and client-server architecture, and who have completed Ciscoproduct-specific training courses.
Joe Obermeier, GE Computer Service network engineer and one of thefirst to complete the CCIE program, said, "Cisco's unique hands-onapproach to certification was a true test of my practical networkingknowledge. The `real life' scenarios I was asked to construct in the labtested my ability to not only design a network on paper, but also toassemble the hardware, configure the software and then debug the entirenetwork."
The three-part program consists of a written CCIE Qualification Test,a four-day `hands-on' Network Troubleshooting Class, and a two-day CiscoCertified Internetwork Expert Certification Lab. The Qualification Testcan be taken at Drake Training & Technologies locations worldwide; theclass and the lab are offered at Cisco headquarters in California and,beginning in first quarter 1994, at Cisco's Brussels, Belgium, office. Onsuccessful completion of the program, the candidate receives a CiscoCertified Internetwork Expert registry number, certificate and award.
Cisco Certified Internetwork Experts are given special direct access tosecond-level support at Cisco's TACs (Technical Assistance Centers) and tospecialized on-line forums on Cisco's Cisco Connection Online (CCO)system. Certification is maintained and updated annually through continuedtraining and evaluation of adherence to CCIE procedures.
The CCIE program expects to certify approximately 300 students duringits first year.
Costs of the program are $100 for the CCIE Qualification Test ($150outside U.S. and Canada), $1700 for the Network Troubleshooting Class, and$1000 for the Certified Internetwork Expert Certification Lab.
For more information, CCIE candidates can contact Scott Edwards, CCIEprogram manager, by calling 415-903-8892 or sending e-mail tosedwards@cisco.com.
