Special Section: SNW, Fall 2004 - More News From SNW:

Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert Certification Announced

Cisco Systems Inc 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 Nov. 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 of 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."