ORLANDO, Fla. (Storage Networking World) - October 25, 2004 - Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced it will extend its award-winning Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) certification program to professionals in the storage networking industry. The new program will be available effective November 18, 2004.

This addition to the expert-level CCIE program emphasizes a broad range of storage networking-related technologies to help identify experts in the implementation and support of intelligent storage networking solutions. As with other CCIE certifications, a CCIE in storage networking will require passing both a written exam covering theoretical concepts and a hands-on lab exam to demonstrate real-world skills. Candidates must demonstrate a high level of expertise with devices such as SAN switches and directors, routers, switches and management solutions. The new CCIE builds on the success of three specialist certifications offered by Cisco to validate storage networking design, support, and sales skills.

"Corporate networks are only as powerful as the technical competencies of the professionals that design, install and manage them," said Mike Quinn, vice president, Technical Support Group at Cisco Systems. "New business initiatives and automated operations are creating extensive new requirements for online data storage, challenging the performance capacities of existing systems. Even more significantly, new storage demands are rapidly outstripping the way in which data storage is managed at most organizations today. Cisco is offering storage networking certifications that are evolving in step with what the market and our customers are demanding for optimizing productivity and performance."

Exam Availability

From Nov. 18 through Dec. 16, 2004, a beta version of the CCIE Storage Networking written exam will be available to candidates at all worldwide Cisco-authorized testing facilities for a reduced cost of $50 (USD). Online enrollment opens on November 18th and candidates may only schedule and take the exam once during the beta test period. Individual scores on beta exams are generally available six to eight weeks after the close of the beta period. The general release of the written exam, as well as the corresponding CCIE Storage Networking lab exam, is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2005. Initially, the lab exam will be available at Cisco offices in San Jose, Calif.; Research Triangle Park, NC; and Brussels, Belgium.

For more information on the CCIE Storage Networking certification, including a list of topics covered on the written exam and suggested preparation resources, please visit the CCIE website at: http://www.cisco.com/go/ccie and choose Storage Networking.

About the CCIE Certification Program

For over ten years, CCIE certification has identified internetworking professionals with the highest level of expertise, those capable of tackling the most challenging assignments in Routing & Switching, Security, Service Provider, Voice and Storage Networking technologies.