Zero Security CCIEs have been added to the worldwide CCIE count over the past three months

And over the past four months, only 1 Security CCIE has been added.

By Brad Reese on Mon, 09/28/09 - 11:21pm.

Today George Morton - Dual CCIE #18532 Routing and Switching/Security, provided his detailed analysis of Cisco's new worldwide CCIE count:

"Well, it's that time again when Cisco releases their CCIE numbers. The last time was in June when the total CCIE count went over 20,000 for the first time.

"This is the first of two blog stories on the CCIE count. The second will be the annual CCIE number count that covers from July 31, 2000 to this most recent count. It's always interesting to see the changes over time in the give and take of each of the certificates, so please look for the second blog story with the nine year history of CCIEs.

"The big news this month is CCIE Security, net new ZERO. Back on April 20 of this year the CCIE Security Lab changed. We know the change was big, but I had no idea how big until now. In the May ’09 to June ‘09 report, only one new Security CCIE was added to the total CCIE count.

"In this three month period the new CCIE Security count is zero! With about ten available seats on any given day over the past three months, that equals about 600 available seats for Security and the net change in the certification was zero. That is one very hard seat.

"The big changes in the Security Lab included the dropping of the VPN-3000, PIX, 3550 for the 3650, upgrading the routers to ISR’s, upgrading the IOS 12.2 to 12.4T, upgrading the IPS software from 5 to 6. On the face of it dropping the VPN-3000 should have made things easier, losing the 26xx series and 12.2 would not break the bank.

"So what changed? I am guessing a few items, in the last few years Cisco has been reevaluating the tests. I am guessing that Security was first on the list, and they went big. New IOS router security features is another, more on securing the Lab, more secure test taking policies, all taking their toll on count. Another answer might just be that some people are moving to Service Provider if they want a second CCIE number.

"Again, in the area of multiple CCIEs, Security is the news with a drop of multiple CCIEs in Router & Switch + Security. In all of the reports that I have seen since 2004 when multiple CCIEs were first reported, I have never, never seen this; a drop in the total count of any multiple CCIE program. In this report we have two drops, R/S + Security and R/S + Storage. The number of candidates that now have two or more CCIEs went up 90 over the past three months. The big winner has been the Service Provider track with 62. Also, the number of Triples + is up by 21 over the past 3 months."

Multiple CCIE Count Change

Source: Dual CCIE #18532 George Morton

"The country counts are similar to what we've seen over the last year or two; Asia continues to provide the largest number of successful candidates with Europe coming in second. If I was a USA Cisco Gold Partner, I would be very nice to my CCIEs because they are getting rarer. If you need the CCIE Security vertical, buy them a new car!"

CCIE Count Change by Region

Source: Dual CCIE #18532 George Morton

"As always I know the numbers don’t add up, they never do. With Cisco Math you need to remember the new Dual, and Triple CCIEs coming on board, so the numbers reflect the 90 new CCIEs with more than one CCIE.

"Country ranks reflect the change we started to see in the May-June report with Egypt growing as one of the new fast upstarts. If a country had more than 10 CCIEs pass they're listed."

CCIE Count Change by Country