New Security Certifications from Cisco

New Security Specialist certifications cover IOS, firewalls and VPNs

Cisco lists certifications in two broad categories: career certifications and specialist certifications. The career certifications include the broad and more commonly known certifications, like the CCNA, CCNP, and so on. The specialist certifications cover a narrower range of topics - sometimes directly overlapping with the technology in the career certifications, and sometimes covering topics outside the career certifications.

 

Before this week, Cisco already had several specialty certifications related to security. Cisco's adding three back to the mix this week:

  

• Cisco IOS Security Specialist
• Cisco Firewall Security Specialist
• Cisco VPN Security Specialist

How do you get these? Well, you simply pass one or two of the current CCNP Security exams, and meet the pre-requisite of needing a current CCNA Security certification. These certs map directly to the exams in the new CCNP Security certification. If you pass all four exams to get your CCNP Security cert, you could earn 5 total specialty certs - the three above, plus the IPS and ASA specialty certifications.

 

Cisco announces new CCNP Security career certification

 

Why the Focus on Security?

 

The bigger question that comes to mind is why all this focus on security?

 

1) Security Requires Role redundancy: Simply put, you can't go without a qualified person for short to medium periods of time. Everyone has to have some time off, go to classes and meetings, and so on, and the risk associated with having your only skilled person gone and unavailable is too much. The solution? At least have role redundancy, that is, have multiple people with real skills for each part of the security puzzle. Common sense, but this is one of the reasons highlighted by Cisco.

 

2) Security Personnel Turnover Expected to Increase: Cisco reviewed generally the assertion that demand for network security engineers will exceed the supply for the foreseeable future, and that Cisco was trying to help the market through these new exams and courses (last fall) and these new specialty certifications. Taking that at face value, it's a microeconomics 101 issue: demand exceeds supply, which drives up how much security engineers are paid. That means turnover as more security engineers go for new higher-paying jobs. And it creates an opportunity to learn security and get dragged along into job opportunities and higher pay.

 

Then, you tag team that idea with the chance of going months without key network security personnel after someone goes to a new job, then the need for role redundancy is greater - which means most organizations should be scrambling to increase security skills of the existing staff.

 

So, that's some of the substance of what I heard from Cisco. However, I was a bit skeptical, and asked if they had any publicly available data to back up the baseline assumption: security personnel demand does/will exceed supply. Cisco cited three references:

 

A 2010 CCIE survey, which showed that security is the top skill needed over the next 5 years. (Survey is dated Feb 2009.)

A 2009 Forrester research study, published on Cisco's web site. This survey asserts that managers need to focus on roles, coverage, and that managers claim that they look at certifications to validate skills. If you look closely, those certs follow behind the idea of looking for experience. (I have to admit, reading the report, it made me wonder if the objective was to favor certifications, but you can make your own assessment.)

An article on the HomelanSecurityNewsWire.com web site, which has some real evidence of the demand exceeds supply argument. In particular, this article sites competition with the private sector for security engineers and that the candidates currently filling the technical security jobs simply aren't technical.

 

 

 

origianl article by Wendell Odom http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/020311-cisco-announces-three-security-certifications.html?page=1

Cisco Refreshes Certifications for Increasing Network Engineering Jobs

(Cisco Networkers) -- In response to growing demand for highly qualified professionals capable of designing, implementing, securing and operating increasingly sophisticated networks and technical infrastructure, Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) today announced a new Service Provider (SP) Operations certification track as well as a major revision of its popular CCNP® certification.



Key Facts/ Highlights

• The growing complexity of corporate IT (information technology) networking, coupled with the demands of telecom-IT convergence and relentless pressure to reduce costs within the enterprise, continues to stimulate interest in managed services. Canalys research predicts that the worldwide service provider market will grow by 7.5 percent year-on-year in 2010.*

• The new Cisco® Service Provider Operations certification track, the first of its kind in the networking industry, verifies that the certificate holder has completed a program to attain the knowledge and skills required for operating an extensible service provider infrastructure to deliver rich managed services.

• The CCNP revision reflects the evolving job tasks of global network professionals, including a greater emphasis on highly secure, complex routing and switching, support for branch offices and mobile workers, and the delivery of voice and video services.

• CCNP offers a development path for CCNA® certification holders, the world's single largest group of networking professionals, and a solid foundation for those interested in pursuing expert-level certification.

• Sixty-six percent of managers believe IT certifications improve the overall level of service and support offered to end users, and 75 percent say certifications are important to team performance, according to IDC.**

Service Provider Operations Certifications

• Designed specifically for Cisco service provider customers, partners and Cisco networking engineers, the new Cisco SP Operations track is focused on developing the capabilities to operate complex service provider Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) infrastructures.

• The Cisco CCIE® SP Operations certification assesses and validates core IP NGN service provider network operations expertise, including the skills required of an expert (Tier III or Tier IV support) operations engineer to troubleshoot and maintain complex service provider IP NGN core (PE-PE and PE-CE) network infrastructures in both Cisco IOS® and Cisco IOS XR operating environments. In addition, it validates broad theoretical knowledge of operations management processes, frameworks and network management systems.

• The Cisco CCNP SP Operations certification validates the knowledge and skills required of a professional-level (Tier II or Tier III support) network operations engineer to isolate network performance problems and to implement proactive fault-prevention measures using operations management processes, frameworks and network management systems.

• The Cisco CCNA SP Operations certification targets entry-level students with a foundation of network operations skills in SP IP NGN environments required of associate-level (Tier I support) operations personnel.

CCNP

• Cisco has updated its CCNP certification with a significant amount of new content through a comprehensive process involving customers and partners from around the globe. The revision focuses on the competencies that are needed to plan, implement, verify and troubleshoot the networks of today and is designed to be more predictive of job readiness.

• Extensive hands-on labs, e-learning lessons and self-paced demos reinforce maintenance and troubleshooting skills.

• The CCNP certification is designed for network engineers with at least one year of professional work experience who are ready to advance their skills and work independently on complex network solutions.

• Three new courses provide the skills required to plan, configure and verify complex routing and switching solutions and utilize an ITIL®-compliant approach to network troubleshooting. The courses are ROUTE v1.0 -- Implementing Cisco IP Routing, SWITCH v1.0 -- Implementing Cisco IP Switched Networks, and TSHOOT v1.0 -- Troubleshooting and Maintaining Cisco IP Networks.

• The revised CCNP certification requires three 120-minute exams -- ROUTE #642-902, SWITCH #642-813, and TSHOOT #642-832 -- that validate the key competencies of network engineers.

Availability

• The revised CCNP courses and e-learning materials are available now. The exams are scheduled to be available in March/April 2010.

• The CCNA Operations certification is scheduled for release in the second quarter of 2010.

• The Cisco CCNP SP Operations certification is scheduled to be available in the third quarter of 2010.

• The CCIE SP Operations written exam is scheduled for release in the second quarter of 2010. The practical exam is scheduled for release in the third quarter of 2010.

Original article: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/marketwire/0579534.htm

Cisco Certifications addressing skills the market demands...

Cisco certification indicates that individuals have attained specific skills and knowledge-, making them more valuable to their employers and more productive while opening further avenues for career advancement. Cisco has found that people with certifications also share a sense of common purpose and are committed to a high standard of conduct.




Cisco works continuously to maintain the relevance of its certification and training programs for evolving job roles and changing student and employer training needs. These programs make use of the latest tools for learning, social media and online collaborative communities. Cisco also regularly updates existing certification programs and develops new certifications to meet the needs of employers for experts in new and specialized areas of network technology.



New Certifications for Data Center Specialists

One example of current network advances is in the data center, where network engineers are working more frequently with storage, server and security professionals. The traditional separation of these roles is blurring as data center technologies converge throughvirtualization and unified computing.

To reflect the multiple skill sets required of data center specialists, Cisco is introducing two new certifications. The Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Design Specialist certification is suitable for data center architects who focus on designing data centers to support unified computing and data center virtualization. The Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Support Specialist certification is for engineers who deploy unified computing, virtualization and related technologies in data centers. Both certifications will confirm an individual's ability to design and manage revolutionary data centers that will help Cisco customers grow their businesses.



New Cisco TelePresence Certifications Support Business Collaboration

Today's business environment means employees are increasingly collaborating through high-quality voice, video and rich-media communications such as those provided by the Cisco TelePresence solution. Yet evolving an enterprise network to support video collaboration requires professionals with distinct skills in rich-media network design and support.



A new Cisco certification track will build knowledge and validate these skills for IT professionals. Attaining the Cisco TelePresence Solutions Specialist certification will help a midcareer voice specialist or network engineer master the planning, design, implementation and maintenance of Cisco TelePresence systems. Attaining the Cisco TelePresence Installations Specialist certification will help an installation professional master the physical deployment and construction of single-screen Cisco TelePresence systems.



Wireless: New Certifications for a Rapidly Growing Field - Borderless Networks

Employer demand is growing for wireless professionals who can design, implement, secure and operate wireless networks and mobility infrastructures. Cisco is addressing this market need with the new Cisco Certified Network Professional Wireless (CCNP Wireless) and Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert Wireless (CCIE Wireless) certifications.



The CCNP Wireless professional-level certification serves as the next step for individuals who have completed Cisco Certified Network Associate Wireless (CCNA Wireless) certification and are interested in advancing their careers in Cisco wireless technologies.



The CCIE Wireless certification verifies that candidates have the necessary expertise to design, manage and support wireless networks. This certification distinguishes wireless engineers in the industry and gives experienced professionals a path to be recognized as wireless experts.



CCIE R&S: Reflecting New Expectations for Network Experts

To reflect the growth of the network as a service platform, Cisco is revising the requirements for the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert Routing and Switching (CCIE R&S) certification, the expert-level certification for network engineers. Specifically, the CCIE R&S written exam will add scenario-based questions and new topics such as multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) and virtual private networks (VPNs), which are common technologies used to design highly secure, scalable connectivity for the industry. The lab exam will now include hands-on troubleshooting of preconfigured networks to validate a candidate's skill in diagnosing and resolving network faults.



CCDA: Designing for New Network Services

The updated Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA) certification validates the knowledge and skills of associate-level network designers addressing increasingly complex network infrastructures. This certification now reflects job skills such as data center design, application networking design and network preparation for the integration of voice and video in a network.


Cisco Certifications Keep Pace With New Directions in Networking By Jeanne Beliveau-Dunn — October Certification Magazine

Cisco certifications CCENT, CCNA

Whether it’s a farmer checking crop prices on the Internet, a small business working with remote suppliers or a huge corporation conducting business worldwide, local and global economic growth depends on networks.
In fact, by enabling communication, collaboration and automation, networks have become so essential that the demand for IT professionals who can build, manage and update them is growing exponentially. The worldwide gap between skilled networking professionals and available networking jobs of all types is expected to reach nearly 3 million by 2012. Further, an IDC white paper found 60,000 new IT professionals will be needed each year for the next three years in North America alone.
The roles and needed skills of networking professionals are changing as well, as networks are changing to deliver new capabilities. In fact, as more and more critical business functions move into the fabric of the data center, entirely new job roles are emerging. The next generation of IT workers will be able to specialize more quickly than their predecessors and focus on new technologies such as voice, security and wireless mobility.
And employers increasingly will look to hire such specialists. A worldwide study by Forrester Consulting found that more companies expect to add dedicated jobs for network security, voice and wireless LANs within five years.
Not surprisingly, the majority of respondents to the Forrester survey said professional certifications will become essential for candidates who want jobs involving advanced networking knowledge and skills. To better prepare the architects of the networked economy for today’s challenges, Cisco has aligned its portfolio to these new job roles and has updated a number of its certifications, increasing the pathways that IT professionals can take to develop their careers.

Cisco CCENT: Expanding the Entry-Level Workforce

Cisco’s newest associate level certification, Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician (CCENT), validates the skills required to successfully install and verify small routed and switched networks. Students who attain this level of certification have developed basic network configuration, verification and other operational skills required for positions such as help-desk technician and technical support assistant.
The certification is an accessible point of entry for people beginning a career in networking and an optional first step to the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certification, which signifies a comprehensive understanding of networking fundamentals. CCNA also is a prerequisite to earning higher-level Cisco career certifications.

CCNA: Specializing Early in a Networking Career

Although IP telephony, security and wireless mobility are considered advanced networking technologies, they quickly are becoming a standard part of many networks. Knowledge of only the networking fundamentals may no longer be enough for career success. Networking professionals today benefit from a specialty focus early in their careers.
CCNA Voice, CCNA Security and CCNA Wireless certifications verify that networking candidates have the specialized skills that are in high demand among employers. These new concentrations extend a candidate’s knowledge of routing and switching gained from attaining the prerequisite CCNA certification.
CCNA Voice certification helps prepare learners for jobs such as voice administrator, voice engineer and voice manager. This certification indicates that students are familiar with unified communications applications and architectures, and it validates their skills in configuring and managing the latest technologies for a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) infrastructure.
CCNA Security certification offers a valuable credential for those in jobs such as network security specialist, security administrator and network security support engineer. This certification verifies the ability to manage security devices, implement security policies and mitigate risks. For those ready to advance in an exciting security career, the CCNA Security certification serves as preparation for pursuing the Cisco Certified Security Professional (CCSP) certification.
CCNA Wireless certification is designed for those working as network associates or administrators, wireless support specialists and wireless local area network (LAN) project managers. This certification confirms skills in configuring, implementing and supporting Cisco wireless LANs in small and medium-sized business and enterprise installations. In the future, CCNA Wireless certification holders will have the option of pursuing higher-level Cisco certifications for wireless networks.

CCDE: Designing Next-Generation Networks

Responding to strong customer demand for professionals who can collaborate on network architecture strategy and not just implement, Cisco has introduced an expert-level certification focused on design: Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE). This certification program applies a solutions-based educational approach and serves the growing number of networking experts who have the knowledge to assess network business requirements and translate them into effective network designs.
Approximately 30 percent of those who hold Cisco’s highest certification — Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) — are responsible for network design each day. However, these design experts are no longer involved in hands-on configuration, but rather in strategic design and architecture. The CCDE certification was created to provide IT professionals who specialize in network design with a credential that recognizes senior-level expertise and provides incentives for experienced practitioners to continue their professional development.
The CCDE curriculum includes sophisticated, multi-vendor network design principles, theory and analysis, as well as strategic architecture concepts that go beyond the network. Modeled after the CCIE expert-level certification, the CCDE credential requires passing a two-part exam: a qualification exam and a practical exam.

Cisco Updates Provide Up-Skilling for Today's Networking Space

By Jeanne Beliveau-Dunn — December 2008

Study Finds Pervasive Networking Talent Shortfall in North America

Demand for Networking Professionals to Outstrip Supply through 2011

SAN JOSE, Calif., July 28, 2008 - Cisco, in collaboration with the Cisco Learning Institute, today announced the results of a study on networking labor needs in North America. According to an IDC white paper sponsored by Cisco Learning Institute, "Networking Skills in North America: Trends, Gaps and Strategies," there is a 60,000-person shortfall between the supply of networking talent and the market demand for highly skilled information technology (IT) workers in the workforce today. As the demand grows for IT professionals, who now represent 14 percent of the workforce, this gap is expected to continue through 2011.

IDC also found that shortages in specialty skills areas, such as network security, wireless and voice are particularly troubling. More than 35 percent of the businesses surveyed identified an immediate need for voice specialists, while 19 percent indicated that they have a need for a wireless expert. IDC also estimates that 11 percent of security specialist positions will be unfilled in 2011 because of a lack of skilled professionals, representing a gap of nearly 35,000 positions.
"This white paper confirms what many managers in the workforce are already keenly aware of: There is an acute and growing need for more IT professionals," said Cushing Anderson, IDC analyst. "With more and more businesses moving critical operational functions over to the network, the IT department is assuming a much more strategic role in the organization and needs its infrastructure to be designed, implemented and maintained by highly skilled, highly trained individuals."

Other key findings of the IDC white paper include:

Employers of all sizes and in all industries surveyed indicated that they will expand their skilled networking personnel over the next four years.
The projected supply of skilled networking workers is not expected to keep pace with demand, resulting in an 8 percent gap, or 60,000 full-time skilled workers each year over the next three years.
The emphasis on more specialty skills also implies that the competencies required in networking professionals are evolving in order to support employers' increasing dependence on their networks.

"The IT workforce is changing," said Amy Christen, vice president of corporate affairs and the Cisco® Networking Academy®. "With networks becoming more ubiquitous in business and everyday life, it is essential to raise awareness of the need for IT professionals. Students of all backgrounds need access to the knowledge-based economy, so they can further their educational and occupational goals while keeping America competitive in the global economy."

IDC collected data from 500 telephone interviews with network managers across a wide swath of industries and business types and sizes and correlated that data with projections from a number of sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The report is available at: http://www.ciscolearning.org/learning_initiatives/evaluation.

Cisco Adds 3 Specializations to CCNA

Cisco anticipates the talent shortage for specialized IT professionals will reach about 3 million by the year 2012. To help close this gap, the technology giant’s training group has created three new specializations for its CCNA certification portfolio.

“One of the reasons for this gap is that the role of the network is expanding,” said Christine Yoshida, senior manager of learning product management for Learning@Cisco. “It’s becoming more sophisticated, and there are more applications and technology that are running on the network. That requires people who are working with these networks to know more about different advanced technologies.”

To provide these workers with the advanced knowledge they need, the associate-level CCNA program now includes CCNA Security, CCNA Voice and CCNA Wireless specializations.
“We are doing what we think is really going to help in this trend toward specialization and getting people the skills they need to specialize,” Yoshida said.

Professionals interested in one or more of these specializations must first complete the current CCNA exam to build foundational skills. Then they can try their hands at the specializations, which can help them advance in roles related to the exams’ respective skills.

CCNA Security is meant for those such as network security specialists and security administrators, who need to know how to monitor and troubleshoot security devices and technologies, as well as create and adopt security policies.

CCNA Voice ensures one knows how to install, configure and perform maintenance for VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and is recommended for voice administrators and engineers.
Finally, CCNA Wireless — Cisco’s first talent development track for wireless specialists — builds competency in configuring, implementing, monitoring and troubleshooting wireless LANs (local area networks). This specialization is meant for wireless and support technicians and security engineers, among others.

Courses and exams for CCNA Security and CCNA Voice are available now, while those for CCNA Wireless will be available July 24.

“We recently did a survey of IT managers around the world,” Yoshida said, “and we found that the IT managers are anticipating they’re going to need specialists at an increasing degree. Right now, there are people who need to know all of these, but there’s going to be an ongoing trend for people to specialize in just these areas.”

By Meagan Polakowski "CertMag" — July 7, 2008

Life of Certifications?

You have spent tremendous time and effort to earn a certification only to have re-certify a few years down the road. Some might gnash their teeth in protest over this and assume it is only a ploy by the various certification entities to part more money from our pockets and others just think it ridiculous, yet I believe there is validity in this concept of having to recertify or earn continuing education credits. Ours is a field that changes constantly. New technologies are released or new versions of current technologies. There are always new updates and service packs that are released. In other words, the IT field is always changing and we have to keep up with these changes or we risk falling behind the technology power curve.

There are some certification programs that require you to either earn Continuing Education credit (taking classes, attending conferences, teaching classes, etc) or to recertify or take a test in the next higher sequence of certification tests (Cisco). There are also some certification organizations that do not require recertification at all - CompTIA being one of them (though they do strongly encourage you to recertify on the newer technologies). Once you are certified - say on Security+, you are certified for life (or as is found on their web site "CompTIA certifications are valid for the rest of a professional's career"). This is nice - you take a test and you are certified for life - no fuss and no worries. But let's say you are A+ certified and that you were certified in 2000 - yes, you are A+ certified and for life - but the technology that you originally were tested on is now 8 years old and has changed significantly. Microsoft also had a similar approach. If you are an MCSE on NT4 - you kept that certification, even though there aren't many NT4 networks left (they have changed this approach with the MCTS and MCITP).

The argument that is put forward for continuing education credits or recertification is that there is concern about the relevancy of the certification with regard to current technology. Three years ,in many cases, is enough time for a technology to have matured enough that you might need a "refresher". I like the idea of continuing education credits - if you resit the class, teach a class that covers the material or even jus t attend a conference or seminar - that should suffice.