In May last year, Juniper made its boldest move yet to lure Cisco certified pros to become certified in Juniper's JUNOS enterprise routers by offering them free training. The program provided participants with access to a range of courses aimed to produce a raft of new Juniper certified professionals to help the Cisco rival increase its share of the enterprise routing market. The program closed Dec. 31, and in mid-December Juniper claimed that 12,000 Cisco certified folks had enrolled in the program since its inception, 2,300 participants have become JUNOS-certified in enterprise routing, and that 130 countries were represented by participants in the program. I spoke to one individual who works at a reseller of both Cisco and Juniper equipment about why he took part in the initiative.

John Podolanko is a pre-sales engineer at Qwest Services, part of the Qwest service provider company, and most of his clients are large enterprises, banks and hospitals. He specializes in security and says about 80% of his business is Cisco-related, though its organization has partner status with both Cisco and Juniper.

Podolanko says he was aware of Juniper's security offerings and had worked with Juniper gear for customers "who didn't want to buy Cisco." He took up the offering of free training with Juniper about five months ago because "it didn't cost me a dime." As a Cisco Certified Internetwork Professional, a Cisco Certified Security Professional, a Cisco Certified Network Professional, and a Cisco Certified Design Professional, he had already taken 15 Cisco exams and getting certified in another vendor's product would add value to his career, he says.

Through the free training offer, Podolanko is now a Juniper Networks Certified Internet Associate - Enterprise Routing. His plan is to get his Cisco Certified Voice Professional status within the next three months. In 2008, his goal is to go for the advanced-level Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert status before taking more Juniper exams.

With the addition of his Juniper certifications and if Juniper comes out in January with its much-anticipated enterprise switch, Podolanko says he expect the ratio of his business between Cisco and Juniper would be 60:40.

Jon Brodkin is senior writer at Network World.