Cisco CCIE R&S count plummets -110

Last month, Dual CCIE #18532 R&S/Security - George Morton seemed flabbergasted to report that Cisco's CCIE R&S count had fallen by -48 for the first time since 2000. Amazingly, Morton is now reporting that the carnage among the worldwide CCIE R&S count has accelerated even further this month by plummeting an astonishing -62, bringing the total loss among the worlwide CCIE R&S count to -110, and all of this in only a short two month time span that additionally according to Morton: "The new news is that the total number of R&S CCIEs declined over the last month by -62. "That's big. "Especially when you consider that the most popular CCIE track is R&S, candidates still passed the R&S Lab over the last 30 days, however, the older CCIEs just aren't recertifying. By not recertifying, those older R&S CCIEs are being dropped from the active rolls and that speaks more about the state of the Cisco VAR program than it does to the state of the CCIE universe. "All Cisco Gold and Silver Partners need CCIEs and those CCIEs must be active CCIEs in good standing with Cisco, (meaning they've passed the Written Test + passed the Lab Exam + they must pass the Written Test every two years to recertify). Because the count's going down, I suspect we're seeing more CCIEs retire from Cisco and the VAR channel or they're just not doing work where having an active CCIE number is important. The end result is fewer CCIEs supporting new Cisco equipment sales (view CCIEs are bringing home the bacon for Cisco) and instead CCIEs will now support the currently installed Cisco equipment base. "The rest of the news is the same, Asia is in decline, Security CCIEs continue to remain flat to down, and Service Provider is the future number #2 in total certifications. I still want to know what's going on in Egypt, because every report now has Egypt ranked in the top ten count for new CCIEs."

New and/or Declines of CCIEs by Region: Source: Dual CCIE #18532 George Morton Decline in CCIEs by Country: Source: Dual CCIE #18532 George Morton November 2009 vs. December 2009 Worldwide CCIE Count Comparison:

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What's your take, how alarmed are you about the plunge in Cisco's CCIE R&S count?

Also, do you believe the plunge in the CCIE R&S count will have a negative effect on the sale of new Cisco networking equipment?

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