HP has a new set of expert-level cloud certifications for IT professionals who can design and develop cloud computing solutions based on open systems. The training for the certification exams helps technical professionals gain hands-on experience and knowledge across the cloud technology spectrum.
HP recently announced a certification portfolio for IT professionals that encompasses the design and development of cloud computing solutions. The company isn’t the first vendor to offer cloud certifications, but the extra effort that went into developing these credentials makes them compelling.
Whether you work for an enterprise, a systems integrator or a cloud service provider you can pick up meaningful new knowledge and skills by taking the training for these certifications because they are based on open standards.
SURVEY: IT certifications lead to jobs, higher pay
The certifications added to the HP ExpertONE Converged Infrastructure program focus on HP CloudSystem, an integrated and open platform for building and managing services across public, private and hybrid cloud environments. The three certifications announced to date include:
• HP Accredited Solutions Expert (ASE) Cloud Architect — This certification allows professionals to identify, position and tailor customer solutions based on HP CloudSystem. The training leading to this certification provides the skills needed to effectively plan and design the right cloud solution for various customer scenarios.
• HP ASE Cloud Integrator — This certification enables professionals to build, install and integrate IT-focused cloud solutions based on HP Cloud Service Automation for Matrix and provisioning software for cloud services. The integration specialist performs all aspects of installation and startup tasks, including hardware configuration, operating system and software installation, HP driver installation and full management instrumentation of the servers, networking and storage solution components.
• HP Master ASE, Cloud Integrator — This certification enables professionals to build, install and integrate hybrid enterprise and service provider cloud solutions based on HP CloudSystem and HP Converged Infrastructure. An HP CloudSystem solution incorporates the main components of today’s cloud-based data center infrastructure — virtualized BladeSystem servers, massive and redundant storage and high-speed, high-availability networking — and completes the solution with automation software, TippingPoint network security and 3PAR virtual storage to build a cloud solution for private, public and hybrid clouds using HP CloudSystem Enterprise and the full Cloud Service Automation software solution.
The HP ASE Cloud Architect certification is available today, and the other two certifications should be available in early 2012. HP plans to offer additional cloud certifications for job roles covering systems administration and sales.
Rebekah Harvey, director of product development for HP Global Certification and Learning, says the goal of these and other HP certifications is to “develop high quality certifications that allow IT professionals to bring value to their organizations. We look at the IT industry as a whole, and the particular job roles within the industry. We try to determine the competencies that someone in that job has to have today and we try to anticipate what someone in that job role has to know a year or two from now. We build those forward-looking competencies into our certification design so that we’re not just preparing someone for a job that they need to do today but we’re preparing them for the future as well.”
Harvey says there is an IT skills gap today that exists, in part, because of the way certifications and training have been developed: “IT training is typically built around a particular vendor’s products. This has led to training that focuses on single disciplines, such as storage or networking. Because of this emphasis on technology silos, IT professionals today have narrow skills that don’t necessarily lend themselves well to the converged infrastructure environment of cloud computing.”
Harvey says that successful design and deployment of cloud solutions require IT professionals to have cross-functional and cross-data center skills. They need to understand how all of the pieces — servers, storage, networking, management and provisioning software, and security — fit together as a whole. This broad but deep knowledge is the secret sauce HP claims to put in its cloud and converged infrastructure certifications to create a well-rounded IT professional.
In addition, many HP training courses incorporate a real-world remote lab in the curriculum to give students hands-on experience with the technologies and products that go into a cloud solution. For example, a student might be taking a networking interoperability course, and he’ll get into a lab where he can add and delete real servers. What makes it more interesting is that there is Cisco gear in the lab along with HP equipment, creating a multi-vendor interoperable lab that is much more representative of a customer’s real data center environment.
All of the equipment is live and the lab exercises are real, not simulations. Harvey says this hands-on experience is so important to help students develop genuine multi-vendor expertise that will help them in their jobs.
And beyond the technical skills, IT professionals need to have the business acumen to help companies or customers determine the strategy for deploying applications in the cloud. “Business acumen is very critical for certain job roles such as the infrastructure architect,” says Harvey. “At that level, our certifications are as much about the business skills and the ability to present the business case as they are about designing the IT solution.”
To learn more about the HP ExpertONE program, visit www.hp.com/go/ExpertONE. Get more details about the converged infrastructure and cloud certifications at https://www.hp.com/certification/portfolios.html.
Linda Musthaler is a principal analyst with Essential Solutions Corporation. You can write to her at LMusthaler@essential-iws.com.
______________________________________________________________
About Essential Solutions Corp:
Essential Solutions researches the practical value of information technology, and how it can make individual workers and entire organizations more productive. Essential Solutions offers consulting services to computer industry and corporate clients to help define and fulfill the potential of IT.
