ISP employee achieves highest certification in networking industry, CCIE, at first attempt
HANOI, Vietnam - May 5, 2003 - In another milestone for Cisco Systems' knowledge transfer activities in Vietnam, the company announced today that its Systems Engineer (SE) Club has produced two new Cisco Certified Internetwork Experts (CCIEs) within a month. The third CCIE, Mr. Le Dinh An, a senior systems engineer from leading local systems integrator, ISP Co. Ltd., even managed to pass the CCIE examination on his first attempt, something few CCIEs manage to do.
CCIEs are the elite of networking engineers and are recognized worldwide as having the highest-level of technical expertise, with the training, experience and confidence to tackle the most challenging problems in their field. Since its introduction over ten years ago, CCIE certification has required passing both a two-hour written qualifying exam and an 8-hour hands-on lab exam demonstrating the candidate's expertise in configuring, testing and troubleshooting real equipment.
To maintain its stature, the CCIE program evolves in step with the industry, focusing on current technologies and real-world applications, constantly updating its testing tools and methodologies to ensure unparalleled program quality, relevance and value for our customers. Highlighting the difficulty with acquiring and maintaining a CCIE, there are only 9,500 active CCIEs around the world with only 174 in ASEAN. Mr. An from ISP has joined a very elite group of networking engineers from around the world.
More importantly, his company, ISP, will also have a key consultant to help its customers in Vietnam build resilient and mission-critical IP networks. ISP is also investing in its support capabilities in order to achieve Cisco Silver certification. Nguyen Duc Quang, CEO of ISP said, "Our commitment to excellence in the networking services is exemplified by the achievements of our consultants. Currently, there are over 20 international networking certification holders within ISP and we plan to add another 20 by the end of the year."
ISP launched a Pay-for-Certification program in 1998 to incent technical professionals to pursue certifications that are aligned with the company's business strategy. Since then, more than 30 ISP technical professionals have taken advantage of this program and received salary increases for certifications they've obtained. Mr. Quang continued: "In this highly competitive IT job market, providing salary compensation for training and development is attractive to our employees and beneficial for our customers, who receive the highest levels of support and industry expertise."
Before attending the CCIE examination, Mr. An attending training updates held at Cisco's SE Club. In this club, Mr. An and other system engineers are briefed on the latest technologies, gain access to a remote networking lab and get valuable hands-on experience with Cisco equipment under the guidance of Cisco's experts. SE Club members can also sit through simulated CCIE tests to prepare them for the real examinations. With these facilities, many members of the club have passed CCIE written exams and are ready to take the hands-on lab exam.
Mr. Ha Huy Hao, managing director, Vietnam, Cisco Systems, said: "I am very happy because in one short month, I can immediately see results from our knowledge transfer program, especially the SE Club. Two systems engineers from our channels are already fully certified CCIEs. We have another 12 who have passed the written exam and I am confident that all will be fully certified by the end of this year. This will not only benefit Cisco's channels but also Vietnam's IT industry."
About ISP Co. Ltd (Sao Bac Dau)
ISP is a leading systems Integrator for worldwide leading IT/Internet/Telecom vendors such as Cisco Systems, Dell, Microsoft. ISP is ISO 9001:2000 certified by TUV with the focus on the Internet/network solutions. Established in 1996 by young and energetic IT specialists, ISP has its headquarters in Ho Chi Minh City, a branch office in Hanoi and a rep. office in Danang. ISP teams currently consist of over 100 skilled and dedicated Vietnamese IT and sales professionals. ISP has long-term research commitments that lead to development of many state-of-art products and solutions for its clients. Despite continuous rapid growth ever since its establishment, ISP has been able to maintain a good organizational structure that brings profitable operations and at the same time is flexible and sensitive to fast changes of the market economy and decision making process. For additional information, please visit www.ispco.com.vn.
About Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Cisco news and information are available at www.cisco.com.
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