Cisco Certifications Explained

Your guide to understanding the array of Cisco certifications available:

Who is Cisco Systems?

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the largest manufacture of networking equipment in the world. Their routers and switches are said to be used in about 80% of the world's business networks.

Cisco was founded in 1984 by Leonard Bosack and Sandra Lerner and shipped its first product – a router for the TCP/IP protocol suite in 1986.

Cisco headquarters are in San Jose, California. Cisco now has more than 65,000 employees and annual revenue of US$40.0 billion as of 2010.

They now offer a wide variety of certification programs in various disciplines – this has grown as they become involved in new technologies such as voice, data centre and video.

Why get certified?

For years, the CCIE qualification has been the premier IT certification to attain in the networking industry. Being Cisco certified provides benefits to the person certified and the companies hiring Cisco certified individuals. Companies typically receive discounts from Cisco once they reach certain levels of recoginition from Cisco and to do this, they have to employ Cisco certified individuals.

To you - your Cisco qualification can equal money. According to Tech Republic’s Salary Survey, – the Cisco CCIE qualifications have consistently ranked as one of the best paying IT certifications.

To the company hiring you in the form of discounts. Companies require certified individuals to reach Select, Premier, Silver, Gold and Global Cisco reseller certifications.

According to the 2010 Tech Republic Salary Survery you could earn the following:
CCNA - $79,695
CCNP - $89,864
CCDA - $93,953
Again, they state the following:
“Overall, professionals who had earned an IT or project management certification during the last five years earned an average of $5,242 more than their counterparts ($85,628 vs. $80,386).”

Your Cisco qualification thus brings measurable rewards to network professionals, their managers, and the organizations that employ them.

What Levels of Certification Does Cisco Offer?

In the past Cisco had three main levels of certification:

Associate (CCNA)
Intermediate (CCNP)
Expert (CCIE)

These days, the number of certifications and the types of certifications has grown dramatically.
Cisco has introduced a new entry-level certification – the CCENT. They have also introduced a qualification above the CCIE – the Cisco Certified Architect.
There are now five levels of certifications:

Entry
Associate
Professional
Expert
Architect

Cisco has over the years introduced multiple certifications and specializations in a variety of fields (called “tracks” or “paths”). Thus, apart from the original Routing and Switching, Cisco now offers certifications in eight different paths:

Routing and Switching
Design
Network Security
Service Provider
Service Provider Operations
Storage Networking
Voice
Wireless

This allows you to can match your certification path to your job role or industry.

Resources

To prepare and learn more about IT certifications and technology tracks, visit the home of Cisco Career Certifications, the Cisco Learning Network.

What is Cisco's Entry-Level Networking Certification?

The Cisco Certified Entry-level Networking Technician (CCENT) is Cisco's entry-level certification and is a requirement for many other qualifications

This certification validates the skills needed to install, operate, and troubleshoot small enterprise branch networks and basic network security.

This is the first part of to gaining your Cisco CCNA. To obtain a CCENT all you have to do is to pass a single certification exam - 640-822 (ICND1). ConfigureTerminal.com offers our 20 hour Cisco CCENT / ICND1 video training course. This course is taught by Cisco CCIE #11023, David Bombal, and includes our Command Memorizers, Simulators, Knowledge Verifiers and lots of other bonuses.

Cisco CCENT Certification

The Cisco Certified Entry-level Networking Technician (CCENT) is Cisco's entry-level certification and is a requirement for many other qualifications

This certification validates the skills needed to install, operate, and troubleshoot small enterprise branch networks and basic network security.

This is the first part of to gaining your Cisco CCNA. To obtain a CCENT all you have to do is to pass a single certification exam - 640-822 (ICND1). ConfigureTerminal.com offers our 20 hour Cisco CCENT / ICND1 video training course. This course is taught by Cisco CCIE #11023, David Bombal, and includes our Command Memorizers, Simulators, Knowledge Verifiers and lots of other bonuses.

Prerequisites: None, Entry-Level
Requirement: Pass Cisco Exam 640-822
ConfigureTerminal.com Recommended Course: Cisco CCENT / ICND1 Video Training Course

Cisco CCNA Certification

The Cisco Certified Network Administrator (CCNA) is Cisco's second level certification.
The CCNA qualification validates your ability to install, configure, operate, and troubleshoot medium-size route and switched networks, including implementation and verification of connections to remote sites in a WAN.
CCNA curriculum includes basic mitigation of security threats, introduction to wireless networking concepts and terminology, and performance-based skills. This new curriculum also includes (but is not limited to) the use of these protocols: IP, Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), Serial Line Interface Protocol Frame Relay, Routing Information Protocol Version 2 (RIPv2),VLANs, Ethernet, access control lists (ACLs).

Prerequisites: None
Requirement: Two Options
- Option 1: Two Exam Path:
  - Pass Cisco Exam 640-822 (CCENT/ICND1)
  - Pass Cisco Exam 640-816 (CCNA/ICND2)
- Option 2: Single Exam Path
  - Pass Cisco CCNA Exam 640-802
ConfigureTerminal.com Recommended Course: ConfigureTerminal.com offers our 40 hour Cisco CCNA video training course. This course is taught by Cisco CCIE #11023, David Bombal, and includes our Command Memorizers, Simulators, Knowledge Verifiers and lots of other bonuses.

Cisco CCENT Certification

The Cisco Certified Entry-level Networking Technician (CCENT) is Cisco's entry-level certification and is a requirement for many other qualifications

This certification validates the skills needed to install, operate, and troubleshoot small enterprise branch networks and basic network security.

Prerequisites: None, Entry-Level
Requirement: Pass Cisco Exam 640-822
ConfigureTerminal.com Recommended Course: Cisco CCENT / ICND1 Video Training Course

Cisco CCNA Certification

The Cisco Certified Network Administrator (CCNA) is Cisco's second level certification.

The CCNA qualification validates your ability to install, configure, operate, and troubleshoot medium-size route and switched networks, including implementation and verification of connections to remote sites in a WAN.

CCNA curriculum includes basic mitigation of security threats, introduction to wireless networking concepts and terminology, and performance-based skills. This new curriculum also includes (but is not limited to) the use of these protocols: IP, Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), Serial Line Interface Protocol Frame Relay, Routing Information Protocol Version 2 (RIPv2),VLANs, Ethernet, access control lists (ACLs).

Prerequisites: None
Requirement: Two Options
Option 1: Two Exam Path:
Pass Cisco Exam 640-822 (CCENT/ICND1)
Pass Cisco Exam 640-816 (CCNA/ICND2)
Option 2: Single Exam Path
Pass Cisco CCNA Exam 640-802
ConfigureTerminal.com Recommended Course: ConfigureTerminal.com offers our 40 hour Cisco CCNA video training course. This course is taught by Cisco CCIE #11023, David Bombal, and includes our Command Memorizers, Simulators, Knowledge Verifiers and lots of other bonuses.