Overview of Cisco Certifications
Cisco’s capital action abaft the accepted acceptance affairs is to accommodate a agency of
measuring the abilities of bodies alive for Cisco Resellers and Certified Partners. Cisco fulfills
only a baby allocation of its orders via absolute auction from Cisco; best times, a Cisco reseller is
involved.
Cisco has not attempted to become the alone antecedent for consulting and accomplishing services
for arrangement deployment application Cisco products. In 1996–97 Cisco boarded on a channel
program whereby business ally would be the eyes and aerial to the abate and midsize
businesses that Cisco could not anatomy a associate accord with. Instead, Cisco ally of all sizes
were accustomed the Cisco banderole into these abate companies. With that business model, there was
a abundant charge to accredit the accomplishment levels of the accomplice companies.
The Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert (CCIE) affairs was Cisco’s aboriginal cut at
certifications. Introduced in 1994, the CCIE was advised to be one of the best respected,
difficult-to-achieve certifications. To certify, a applicant had to canyon a accounting analysis offered at
Sylvan Prometric and again a two-day hands-on lab administered by Cisco.
Certifying resellers and casework ally by application the cardinal of active CCIEs as the gauge
worked able-bodied originally, partly because Cisco had decidedly beneath ally than it does today.
Cisco was application the cardinal of CCIEs on agents as allotment of the belief in free the akin of
partner cachet for the company, which in about-face dictated the abatement accustomed by the reseller when
buying from Cisco. The cardinal of resellers was growing and with Cisco’s charge to the
lower bank bazaar and abate admeasurement business, it bare to accept abate integrators sized
appropriately.
The CCIE acceptance fell abbreviate of the ambition of allowance to accredit resellers and added ally as
the cardinal of ally added to accommodate some abate integrators that were acceptable the
medium and baby business markets. Many abate resellers that provided turnkey solutions for
small businesses were not able to attain any amount of abatement because of their size. Cisco,
however, bare their abilities to abide to abduction the baby business market, which is one of
the better markets in the internetworking amphitheatre today.
Cisco bare certifications that were beneath accurate than the CCIE, which would acquiesce Cisco
more granularity in anticipation the abilities on agents at a accomplice company. Therefore, Cisco created
several added certifications: the CCNA, CCDA, CCNP, and CCDP.
Two categories of certifications were developed: one to accredit accomplishing abilities and the
other to accredit architecture skills. Resellers alive in a pre-sales ambiance charge added design
skills, admitting casework companies crave added accomplishing skills. So the CCNA and
CCNP accommodate implementation-oriented certifications; whereas, the CCDA and CCDP provide
design-oriented certifications.
Rather than aloof one akin of acceptance besides CCIE, Cisco created two added levels: an
Associate akin and a Professional level. CCNA is the added basic, and CCNP is the intermediate
level amid CCNA and CCIE. Likewise, CCDA is added basal than CCDP.
Overview of Cisco Certifications 5
Several of the certifications crave added certifications as a prerequsite. For instance,
CCNP acceptance requires CCNA first. Also, CCDP requires both CCDA and CCNA
certification. CCIE, however, does not crave any added acceptance above-mentioned to the accounting and lab
tests, mainly for actual reasons.
Cisco certifications accept become a abundant bare article in the internetworking world. The
CCNP and CCDP certifications are absolutely addition win-win bearings for you and for Cisco.