Cisco is formally launching its much-discussed Cisco Certified Design Expert program at this week's Networkers Europe 2008 conference in Barcelona, Spain. The program was first discussed with a few Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert at Networkers U.S. last summer and Network World and its Cisco Subnet bloggers since have written extensively about the new certification. But there are still questions surrounding the new program, mostly around how it fits with Cisco's CCIE certifications, whether Cisco partners and resellers are required to have x many CCDEs on their roster, how the lab portion of the exam would work, and how Cisco would be raising awareness of the program among businesses and employers. Cisco last week spoke on the record about the program.

CCDE is on par with the CCIE designation and demonstrates that individuals understand complex network design and architectures. Although holding a CCIE is not a prerequisite, CCDE candidates are expected to have at least 7 years of networking experience. They're also expected to be in roles such as senior network designer and architect, network leader for the enterprise IT infrastructure team, or network contributor for the enterprise architecture team. The CCDE is not meant to replace or be regarded as a higher designation than the CCIE as Cisco feels that both fulfill different roles in the organization. CCIEs are the hands-on experts that have deep knowledge of routers and switches, storage networks, service providers, security or voice. CCDEs are their equivalent but with network design as their deep knowledge. David Bump, portfolio manager of Cisco Learning's design track likens the CCDE to a chef's role and the CCIE to a cook.

Cisco will award the CCDE designation to individuals who can demonstrate expertise across voice, video, data and storage; design multivendor network architectures that are adaptable and scalable; have the ability to use advanced technical networking knowledge to solve business problems; and be able to troubleshoot architectural design flaws.

Like the CCIE exam, the CCDE encompasses a 2-hour multiple choice written exam - Exam # 352-001 ADVDESIGN (Advanced Network Infrastructure Design Theory and Principles), available this week via Pearson VUE, and an 8-hour proctored practical exam to be available by November, according to Bump. Cisco is still working on the practical exam, which it says will be scenario-based that tests for advanced insfrastructure design knowledge. Candidates will be asked multiple questions based on scenarios. "There will be no equipment in the exam - no routers," said Bump. A beta of the practical exam is expected in June.

Jon Brodkin is senior writer at Network World.