There are numerous advantages to Cisco certifications, which not only enable candidates to get a better job or promotion but also enrich and broaden the skills of professional network engineers around the world. The benefits of Cisco certifications are particularly keen when your organization has Cisco infrastructure, which is common in many enterprises.
Any of the Cisco certifications on the following pages can boost your IT career, making you more appealing to prospective employers -- or making you very popular at your current job. Consider them if you are looking fro career advancement or simply want to refine your skills.
Cisco certifications can be pursued in two categories, Cisco Career Certifications and Cisco Specialist Certifications. These certifications are available for various IT-specific fields including collaboration, data center, routing and switching, security, wireless, network design, and programmability.
The Cisco Career Certifications category has offerings for various sub-domains of networking, which can be categorized into different levels: Entry, Associate, Professional, Expert, and Architect (the highest level of accreditation within the Cisco Career Certification program).
Cisco Specialist Certifications acknowledge the specific expertise of technical professionals, including those with Cisco Career Certifications at the associate, professional, or expert levels. Specialist certifications can help network professionals enhance their core networking knowledge in technologies such as security, data center, or collaboration.
With Cisco certification, candidates can maximize their investment in their education and increase their professional value by enabling their IT organization to meet increased business demands resulting from technology transitions. Cisco has its own learning community where candidates can share; participate in group discussions; get access to study materials, practice questions, and trainings; and much more. Cisco provides a range of preparation methods to suit a diverse range of schedules and learning styles.
Collaboration is an essential ingredient for business success and innovation. These certifications will enable you to use your knowledge to help foster transformation in your organization and increase the effectiveness of your organization's collaboration experience.
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Network Associate Collaboration (CCNA Collaboration)
Description: This certification is a job-role focused training and certification program suitable for network video engineers, collaboration engineers, IP telephony engineers, and IP network engineers who want to develop and advance their collaboration and video skills in line with the convergence of voice, video, data, and mobile applications.
Prerequisites: None
Exams & Duration:
Price: US $250
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Network Professional Collaboration (CCNP Collaboration)
Description: The Cisco CCNP Collaboration certification is a job-role focused training certification program suitable for collaboration and unified communications network engineers who want to develop advanced collaboration skills by designing, deploying, configuring, and troubleshooting Cisco Collaboration and Unified Communications applications, devices, and networks.
Prerequisites: Valid CCNA Collaboration certification or any Cisco CCIE certification
Exams & Duration:
Price: US $250
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert Collaboration (CCIE Collaboration)
Description: This certification is suitable for collaboration architects, unified communications architects, or voice and video network managers who are responsible for the design, implementation, and troubleshooting of complex collaboration solutions. The certification is an expert-level certification that ensures that you gain knowledge and experience in collaboration solutions. The foundation for workplace collaboration solutions includes integration, interoperation, configuration, troubleshooting in complex networks, and exploring the challenges of video, mobility, and presence.
Prerequisites: Candidates must first pass a written qualification exam and then a corresponding hands-on lab exam. They are expected to have an in-depth understanding of the topics on the exams and are strongly encouraged to have three to five years of job experience before attempting certification.
Exams & Duration:
Price: CCIE Collaboration Written Exam - US $400; CCIE Collaboration Lab Exam -- US $1,600
Earning a data center certification can help you maximize your education investment and help your organization increase the value of its data center network while addressing the key areas of data center network design, implementation, and maintenance.
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Technician Data Center (CCT Data Center)
Description: This certification is an entry-level certification that focuses on the skills required for onsite support and maintenance of Cisco Unified Computing Systems and servers. CCT Data Center certification certifies technicians to be able to identify Cisco Unified Computing System components and servers, accessories, cabling and interfaces; understand the Cisco UCS and NX-OS operating modes and other commonly found software; and be able to use the Cisco Graphical User Interface to connect and service various product components.
Prerequisites: None
Exam & Duration:
Price: US $125
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Network Associate Data Center (CCNA Data Center)
Description: This certification is a job-role focused training and certification program suitable for data center network administrators who want to save time and money on data center design, equipment installation, and maintenance.
Prerequisites: None
Exams & Duration:
Price: US $250
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Network Professional Data Center (CCNP Data Center)
Description: This certification is a job-role focused training and certification program suitable for business services, technology architects, presales, and design and implementation engineers who want to save time and money on their current infrastructure.
Prerequisites: Valid Cisco CCNA Data Center certification or any Cisco CCIE certification
Exams & Duration:
AND
OR
Price: US $250
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert Data Center (CCIE Data Center)
Description: This certification is for professionals who have the expert-level skills required to plan, prepare, operate, monitor, and troubleshoot complex data center networks. CCIE Data Center certified professionals have the ability to demonstrate their technical skills at the highest level.
Prerequisites: Candidates must first pass a written qualification exam and then a corresponding hands-on lab exam. Candidates are expected to have an in-depth understanding of the topics in the exam blueprints and strongly encouraged to have three to five years of job experience before attempting certification.
Exams & Duration:
Price: CCIE Data Center Written Exam - US $400; CCIE Data Center Lab Exam - US $1,600
Routing and switching certifications focus on identifying Cisco router and switch models, accessories, cabling, and interfaces; understanding the Cisco IOS Software operating modes and identifying commonly found software; and being able to use the Cisco Command Line Interface (CLI) to connect and service products.
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Technician Routing and Switching (CCT Routing and Switching)
Description: This certification focuses on the skills required for onsite support and maintenance of Cisco routers, switches, and operating environments.
Prerequisites: None
Exam & Duration:
Price: US $125
CCT Routing and Switching website
Certification Name:
Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician (CCENT)
Description: This certification tests a candidate's ability to install, operate, and troubleshoot a small enterprise branch network, including basic network security. With a CCENT, a network professional demonstrates the skills required for entry-level network support positions -- the starting point for many successful careers in networking. CCENT is the first step toward achieving CCNA, which covers medium-sized enterprise branch networks with more complex connections.
Prerequisites: None
Exam & Duration:
Price: US $150
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Routing and Switching
Description: This certification program is for network specialists, network administrators, and network support engineers with one to three years of experience. The CCNA Routing and Switching certification tests a candidate's ability to install, configure, operate, and troubleshoot medium-sized routed and switched networks.
Prerequisites: None
Exams & Duration:
OR
Price: 200-120 CCNA - US $295; 100-101 ICND1 - US $150; 200-101 ICND2 - US $150
CCNA Routing and Switching website
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) Routing and Switching
Description: This certification is for network engineers, support engineers, systems engineers, or network technicians who have at least one year of networking experience. This certification tests a candidate's ability to plan, implement, verify, and troubleshoot local and wide-area enterprise networks and work collaboratively with specialists on advanced security, voice, wireless, and video solutions.
Prerequisites: Valid Cisco CCNA Routing and Switching certification or any Cisco CCIE certification
Exams & Duration:
Price: US $250
CCNP Routing and Switching website
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert Routing and Switching (CCIE Routing and Switching)
Description: This certification validates the skills of expert-level network engineers to plan, operate, and troubleshoot complex, converged network infrastructure.
Prerequisites: Candidates must first pass a written qualification exam and then a corresponding hands-on lab exam. Candidates are expected to have an in-depth understanding of the topics in the exam blueprints and strongly encouraged to have three to five years of job experience before attempting certification.
Exams & Duration:
Price: CCIE Routing and Switching Written Exam - US $400; CCIE Routing and Switching Lab Exam - US $1,600
Security-related certifications emphasize core security technologies along with the installation, troubleshooting, and monitoring of network devices to maintain integrity, confidentiality, and availability of data and devices.
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Network Associate Security (CCNA Security)
Description: This certification validates associate-level knowledge and skills required to secure Cisco networks. With a CCNA Security certification, a network professional demonstrates the skills required to develop a security infrastructure, recognize threats and vulnerabilities to networks, and mitigate security threats.
Prerequisites: Any valid Cisco CCENT, CCNA Routing and Switching, or any CCIE certification
Exam & Duration:
Price: US $250
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Network Professional Security (CCNP Security)
Description: This certification program is aligned specifically to the job role of the Cisco Network Security Engineer responsible for security in routers, switches, networking devices, and appliances, as well as choosing, deploying, supporting, and troubleshooting firewalls, VPNs, and IDS/IPS solutions for networking environments.
Prerequisites: Valid CCNA Security Certification or any CCIE Certification
Exams & Duration:
Price: US $250
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert Security (CCIE Security)
Description: This certification program is for individuals who have the knowledge and skills to implement, maintain, and support extensive Cisco Network Security Solutions using the latest industry best practices and technologies.
Prerequisites: Candidates must first pass a written qualification exam and then a corresponding hands-on lab exam. Candidates are expected to have an in-depth understanding of the topics in the exam blueprints and are strongly encouraged to have three to five years of job experience before attempting certification.
Exams & Duration:
Price: CCIE Security Written Exam - US $400; CCIE Security Lab Exam - US $1,600
Service providers are responsible for delivering a scalable carrier-grade infrastructure capable of rapid expansion to support ongoing introduction of new managed services and other customer requirements. Professionals who work for service providers often seek these certifications.
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Network Associate Service Provider (CCNA Service Provider)
Description: This certification is for service provider network engineers, technicians, and designers who focus on the latest in service provider industry core networking technologies and trends. With the ability to configure, implement, and troubleshoot baseline Cisco Service Provider Next-Generation Networks, CCNA Service Provider certified individuals deploy, maintain, and improve carrier-grade network infrastructures.
Prerequisites: None
Exams & Duration:
Price: US $250
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Network Professional Service Provider (CCNP Service Provider)
Description: This certification is for service provider network engineers, systems engineers, and network specialists who are responsible for delivering a scalable carrier-grade infrastructure capable of rapid expansion to support ongoing introduction of new managed services and other customer requirements.
Prerequisites: any one of the following
Exams & Duration:
Price: US $250
Certification Name: Cisco CCIE Service Provider (CCIE Service Provider)
Description: This certification is for expert-level service provider network engineers who bring the knowledge and skills to build an extensible service provider infrastructure to deliver rich managed services.
Prerequisites: Candidates must first pass a written qualification exam and then a corresponding hands-on lab exam. Candidates are expected to have an in-depth understanding of the topics in the exam blueprints and strongly encouraged to have three to five years of job experience before attempting certification.
Exams & Duration:
Price: 400-201 CCIE SP CCIE Service Provider Written Exam - US $400; CCIE Service Provider Lab Exam 4.0 - US $1,600
These certifications recognize the expertise and technical acumen of wireless networking professionals who can assess and translate network business requirements into technical specifications that, in turn, are incorporated into successful installations.
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Network Associate Wireless (CCNA Wireless)
Description: This certification validates associate-level knowledge and skills to configure, implement, and support wireless LANs, and specifically networks using Cisco equipment. With a CCNA Wireless certification, network professionals can support a basic wireless network on a Cisco WLAN in anything from a small to midsize business network to an enterprise network.
Prerequisites: Any valid Cisco CCENT, CCNA Routing and Switching, or any CCIE certification
Exam & Duration:
Price: US $250
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Network Professional Wireless (CCNP Wireless)
Description: This certification validates candidates with the ability to address the need for designing, implementing, and operating Cisco Wireless networks and mobility infrastructures. CCNP Wireless certification emphasizes wireless networking principles and theory. It also recognizes the expertise and technical acumen of wireless professionals who can assess and translate network business requirements into technical specifications that, in turn, are incorporated into successful installations.
Prerequisites: Valid Cisco CCNA Wireless or any Cisco CCIE certification
Exams & Duration:
Price: US $250
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert Wireless (CCIE Wireless)
Description: This certification assesses and validates wireless expertise with broad theoretical knowledge of wireless networking and a solid understanding of wireless local area networking (WLAN) technologies from Cisco.
Prerequisites: Candidates must first pass a written qualification exam and then a corresponding hands-on lab exam. Candidates are expected to have an in-depth understanding of the exam topics and strongly encouraged to have three to five years of job experience before attempting certification.
Exams & Duration:
Price: CCIE Wireless Written Exam v3.0 - US $400; CCIE Wireless Lab Exam (8 hours) - US $1,600
These certifications focus on building scalable internetworks and multilayer-switched networks, as well as designing network service architecture.
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA)
Description: This certification is for network design engineers, technicians, and support engineers who enable efficient network environments with an understanding of network design fundamentals. A CCDA network professional demonstrates the skills required to design basic campus, data center, security, voice, and wireless networks.
Prerequisites: A valid CCENT, CCNA Routing and Switching, or any CCIE certification
Exam & Duration:
Price: US $250
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Design Professional (CCDP)
Description: This certification is for senior network design engineers, senior analysts, and principal systems engineers. The program encourages candidates to discuss, design, and create advanced routing, security, data center, and IP multicast multi-layered enterprise architectures, including the design components of larger networks and virtual private networking and wireless domains.
Prerequisites: Valid Cisco CCDA and CCNA Routing and Switching or any Cisco CCIE certification
Exams & Duration:
Price: US $250
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE)
Description: This certification is for expert-level network design engineers, expert-level network leads of IT infrastructure teams, and expert-level network leads of architecture teams working in job roles that require the translation of business needs, budget, and operational constraints into the design of a converged solution.
Prerequisites: None
Exams & Duration:
Price: CCDE Written Exam - US $400; CCDE Practical Exam - US $1,600
Certification Name: Cisco Certified Architect (CCAr)
Description: This certification is for senior network infrastructure architects who produce technical specifications for the network to support business objectives. It is the highest level of accreditation achievable and recognizes the architectural expertise of network designers who can support the increasingly complex networks of global organizations and effectively translate business strategies into evolutionary technical strategies.
Prerequisites: Valid Cisco CCDE certification can act as a prerequisite, along with a thorough understanding of networking infrastructure principles
Exam & Duration:
Price: US $15,000
These certifications allow professionals to harness the foundation skills needed to develop network applications in programmable environments.
Certification Name: Cisco Business Application Engineer Specialist
Description: This certification is for application engineers who design, develop, and build business applications and who are looking to leverage the programmable capabilities of the new open network environment. These skills allow engineers to leverage API capabilities in order to collect information from the network.
Prerequisites: None
Exams & Duration:
Price: US $250
Cisco Business Application Engineer Specialist website
Certification Name: Cisco Network Programmability Developer Specialist
Description: This certification is for software programmers who focus on the development of the network applications layer, which can live in any of the Cisco provided programmable components, and will enable service provider, campus, and data center use cases.
Prerequisites: Any CCNA certification or any CCIE certification
Exams & Duration:
Price: US $250
Cisco Network Programmability Developer Specialist website
Certification Name: Cisco Network Programmability Design Specialist
Description: This certification is for engineers who have both architectural and application deployment expertise. Candidates will learn how to better collect customer requirements and use this information to leverage the infrastructure and translate requirements into a recommended open infrastructure.
Prerequisites: Any CCNP certification or any CCIE certification
Exams & Duration:
Price: US $250
Cisco Network Programmability Design Specialist website
Certification Name: Cisco Network Programmability Engineer Specialist
Description: This certification is for engineers who deploy network applications into a programmable environment and make them operational.
Prerequisites: Any CCNP certification or any CCIE certification
Exams & Duration:
Price: US $250
A specialist certification validates the specific expertise of technical professionals in fields including business transformation, the Internet of Things, operating system software, service provision, and security. Following is an overview of each of these specialist certifications; please contact Cisco for more information on timing, prices, prerequisites, and other details.
Cisco offers several business-related specialist certifications.
Certification Name: Cisco Enterprise IT Business Specialist
Description: This certification is for IT professionals who play a key role in helping their organizations use technology to improve business outcomes. The program covers subjects like business analysis, technology trends, finance, business-focused solution design, organization change / IT adoption and effective communications.
Certification Name: Cisco Business Specialists Certifications For Sales Professionals
Description: A Cisco Business Transformation certification portfolio is for Cisco sales professionals who engage in customer conversations designed to pinpoint a strategic view of customer needs, lead stakeholders to consensus decisions, and produce cross-architectural roadmaps.
Certification Name: Cisco Learning Virtual Classroom Instruction
Description: Cisco WebEx Virtual Classroom Instructors have the ability to prepare and manage a virtual classroom environment and effectively use collaboration tools, such as those provided in WebEx, to maximize student participation and comprehension. Skilled virtual instructors can improve their teaching effectiveness and increase student satisfaction. Certification validates a specialized set of instructor skills, can expand an instructor's employment opportunities, and can serve as a differentiator to prospective students.
Cisco also offers an Internet of Things related specialist certification.
Certification Name: Cisco Industrial Networking Specialist
Description: This certification is for information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) professionals in the manufacturing, process control, and oil and gas industries, who will be involved with the implementation, operation, and support of networked industrial products and solutions.
Cisco offers Operating System Software-related specialist certification.
Certification Name: Cisco IOS XR Specialist
Description: This certification is for network engineers who wish to obtain prescriptive information and experience using Cisco IOS XR. This certification validates the skills to implement, verify, and maintain core and edge technologies on Cisco carrier-class platforms running Cisco IOS XR.
Cisco offers Service Provider-related specialist certifications.
Certification Name: Cisco Service Provider Mobility CDMA to LTE Specialist
Description: This certification validates a service provider network engineer's knowledge and skills to understand technologies, components, architectures, and products found in advanced networks. This includes code division multiple access (CDMA) packet core networks, Long-Term Evolution (LTE) evolved packet systems (EPS), evolved packet core (EPC) networks, and radio access networks (RANs).
Certification Name: Cisco Service Provider Mobility UMTS to LTE Specialist
Description: This certification validates a service provider network engineer's knowledge and skills to understand technologies, components, architectures, and products in advanced networks. This covers subjects like universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) packet core networks, Long-Term Evolution (LTE) evolved packet systems (EPS), evolved packet core (EPC) networks and radio access networks (RANs).
Cisco offers security-related specialist certification.
Certification Name: Cisco Cybersecurity Specialist
Description: This certification is for professional security analysts who focus on the topics of event monitoring, security event/alarm/traffic analysis, and incident response.
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