HP has scrapped its policy of requiring HP Certified Professionals to take another exam each time a significant change is made to the technology in which they're certified in order to remain accredited. Instead, HP is asking its certified professionals to stay current by taking continuous learning programs that are assigned points. Professionals are asked to attain a certain number of points each year depending on their areas of expertise.

HP has also changed the way its credentials are named. All new, and some existing credentials, will include either a year designator, or a version designator, explains Tony Croes, director of HP's Learning Channel Program. So for example, an HP Certified Systems Engineer who is certified on HP Tru64 Unix Version 5, will carry the designation "CSE - HP Tru64 Unix v5." A credential will be renamed each time there is a significant change in skill, product or technology, says HP.

Credential versions can have one of five possible statuses: active - the most up-to-date credential in a specific technology; transitional - expected to have a more up-to-date credential in the future; inactive - still recognized as part of HP's certification program but no longer attainable; expiring - a credential that will expire on a specified date in the future; and expired - no longer considered part of the program.

To keep their certifications current, HP Certified Professionals are encouraged to take part in specific activities that are awarded points, including Webinars, seminars, self-paced and instructor-led training, and attendance at HP certified professional events. HP would also consider third-party training, such as Microsoft and Cisco courses if HP recognizes them as being relevant to the particular HP certification, says Croes.

A minimum of 8 annual points are required per technology family. If a professional holds certifications in two or more technology families, the annual requirement is capped at 16 points. The technology families include business critical servers, ProCurve networking, storage, software, and NonStop systems.

Certified professionals are able to track their status in the program at an HP portal, which also has a catalog of educational activities. If someone's status is no longer current, they can regain current status by achieving one-and-a-half times the required minimum number of points for the current year, says HP.

Jon Brodkin is senior writer at Network World.