Is it a chook? Is it a aircraft? No, it’s the most recent certifications from Cisco Finding out and Certifications! That’s proper, I’m satisfied to proportion some main points at the 3 latest Cisco Specialist certifications with you all. And all 3 relate to that subject that is still at the minds of each engineer, IT chief, and corporate—the CLOUD!

Each and every hero merits an starting place tale…

Cloud is obviously crucial subject for us all within the IT global these days, and we knew that cloud-related certifications belonged within the Finding out and Certifications portfolio of tech profession certifications.  However we needed to do them proper.

Sign up for me on a brief little shuttle again in time, if you’ll.

It used to be June 2022, and I used to be in Las Vegas for Cisco Reside.  It used to be a very good tournament, in fact, nevertheless it used to be additionally the primary time in a very long time that we’d been in a position to get in combination as a Finding out and Certifications crew in individual.  One night time as a crew dinner used to be completing up, I discovered myself sitting with Par Merat, VP of Finding out and Certifications, and Joe Clarke, Prominent Engineer extraordinaire for Finding out and Certification.

We began speaking about what must come subsequent for certifications from Cisco (a subject matter that we speak about so much.. certs don’t stand nonetheless), and Cloud, in fact, got here up.  After brainstorming some concepts, a theme began to shape.  We needed to verify any new cloud certification centered sides of the cloud that Cisco and Cisco Qualified engineers had important roles to play. We additionally discovered {that a} unmarried all-encompassing “Cisco Cloud Certification” wasn’t sensible.  Cloud is just too giant and large a subject matter. The theory of use case centered concentrations got here up, a certification that at once aligned to the sorts of initiatives that our neighborhood used to be being requested to do each day.

For instance, I introduced up one thing I’d heard such a lot of community engineers speak about running on for his or her firms.  They have been being requested to glue their company community WANs to the general public cloud networks in some way that introduced consistency in design, engineering, and operations.  They had to combine the cloud networks into the company networks and didn’t simply need to “bolt it on.” So I floated an concept for a “Safe Cloud Connectivity” certification that targeted in this drawback and the Cisco era and answers that might assist remedy this drawback these days.

The theory resonated, and it in the end was “Designing and Enforcing Cloud Connectivity,” the primary of the 3 Multi-Cloud Certifications that got here out of this idea.

Carry out the certs!!!!

This brings us again to these days, and I’m so pleased with the manner we took for those certifications and the 3 new Skilled-level specializations that we’ve launched.

The primary one introduced used to be the already presented “Designing and Enforcing Cloud Connectivity” certification.  This certification is a part of the Undertaking Skilled monitor and covers the structure, era, and operation of the protected community interconnections between private and non-private clouds the usage of Cisco applied sciences.  What’s in point of fact thrilling to me about this certification is that it acknowledges that there are a number of imaginable tactics to construct community bridges between clouds and that community engineers will have to steadiness the industry and technical necessities in their undertaking when comparing and settling on what is correct for a challenge.

In case you are an undertaking community skilled managing the connections to the general public cloud, it is a certification you must without a doubt take a look at.  The primary date to check is September twentieth, 2023 – which is sort of right here!  As a focus examination within the Undertaking monitor, it may be mixed with a cross at the “Enforcing Cisco Undertaking Community Core Applied sciences” (ENCOR) examination to earn your CCNP Undertaking certification.

The second one new cloud certification is “Designing and Enforcing Safe Cloud Get admission to for Customers and Endpoints” which lives within the Safety Skilled monitor and has what could be the best sounding acronym of all of our certifications, “SCATZ”. With SCATZ, we needed to focus on the trade in how enterprises are offering customers get admission to to packages and information.

After I first began at Cisco about 13 years in the past, just about each software, inside website online, wiki, knowledge proportion, or device I had to do my process required that I determine a VPN into Cisco’s community.  This used to be to make sure that handiest approved customers accessed the essential methods inside of Cisco’s company community.  Nowadays that isn’t the case.  There are only a few instances that I’ve to open up AnyConnect and connect with Cisco’s VPN community anymore.  That doesn’t imply that Cisco isn’t anxious about safety, reasonably the other, Cisco is hyper-aware of safety.  However we also are very concerned with consumer enjoy and making methods simply and persistently to be had.  With updates in our safety portfolio from Duo, Umbrella, Firepower, and Safe Analytics, we will be able to now supply constant and efficient safety to Cisco’s international and really hybrid team of workers with out forcing every people to be tethered to a VPN connection all the time.

The SCATZ focus examination evaluates safety pros’ skill to design and put in force a majority of these answers for their very own enterprises.  It’s an out of this world addition to the safety focus choices for applicants having a look to earn their CCNP Safety after passing the “Enforcing and Working Cisco Safety Core Applied sciences” (SCOR) examination.  The primary date to take a seat for SCATZ is November 20, 2023.

The remaining of the 3 cloud certifications is “Designing and Enforcing Cisco Provider Supplier Cloud Community Infrastructure” as a result of as cool as it’s to devour cloud services and products, anyone nonetheless has to construct it.  In any case, the most efficient definition of “the cloud” is “anyone else’s laptop”.  Whilst this certification is within the Provider Supplier Skilled monitor, I believe it’s price a glance via any undertaking or knowledge heart skilled development personal cloud as smartly.  It explores the entire virtualization, automation, and development infrastructure at scale subjects which can be key to providing tough, on-demand cloud services and products to satisfy the ever-increasing consumer expectancies.  It’s also complete of a few very cool community applied sciences that make me need to stir up Cisco Modeling Labs and get started labing to organize to take the examination.  And I’ve nonetheless were given time to organize, the primary date to check for this certification isn’t till January 20, 2024.

What about coaching?

What would a Cisco certification be with out coaching categories and fabrics to assist applicants get ready?  Neatly, it more than likely wouldn’t be a Cisco certification in any respect.  🙂

Our coaching content material construction crew has been arduous at paintings development new Cisco U Finding out Paths and Trainer Lead coaching lessons to assist applicants be informed all the bits and bobs of those thrilling cloud use circumstances and get in a position to take and cross those new checks.  Those coaching categories will come with the similar fine quality hands-on lab enjoy that you simply’ve come to be expecting from reliable Cisco Finding out content material. Simply get a have a look at this topology that can be a part of the “Designing and Enforcing Cloud Connectivity” path.

The categories are in construction now, so keep tuned for main points on after they’ll be to be had to Cisco U subscribers to dive into.  And without a doubt ask your favourite Cisco Finding out Spouse after they plan to start providing the brand new categories.  Even with the supply of such a lot on-demand technical coaching content material, I nonetheless love the chance to paintings with knowledgeable trainer and find out how one thing works.  The non-scripted portions of the educational and having the ability to ask questions and dive down some technical threads at school are so treasured.

Neatly, that’s about it for now.  I am hoping you’re as fascinated with those new cloud certifications as we’re.  Which one are you desirous about taking first?  Are you already finding out and need to be one of the crucial first to earn the brand new specialization?  Let me know within the feedback!

Sources

Examination subject blueprints

Designing and Enforcing Cloud Connectivity v1.0 (ENCC 300-440)

Designing and Enforcing Safe Cloud Get admission to for Customers and Endpoints v1.0 (SCAZT 300-740)

Designing and Enforcing Cisco Provider Supplier Cloud Community Infrastructure (SPCNI 300-540)