Guest post from an instructor who teaches the courses
Dave Schulz guest blogs today about the changes to the CIPT1 and CIPT2 exams. Specifically, Dave will examine the changes to the Cisco authorized courses by this same name to give us a deeper insight into what’s added, removed, and emphasized comparing the new and old CIPT1 and CIPT2 exams. Dave is a Voice instructor for Skyline ATS, author of the new CIPT2 Quick Reference from Cisco Press, and a good friend. Feel free to ping him with questions about these exams in particular, or any other changes in the Voice courses and exams.
I am pleased to make a guest appearance here on Wendell’s blog, and I consider it an honor to help assist you with your certification and exam preparation for CIPT1 and CIPT2. Along with CVOICE, these three courses make up the core understanding of voice technology for the various Cisco product call processing implementation and deployment. The CVOICE course materials will be discussed in later issues of this blog. However, the focus here will be on the CIPT1 and CIPT2 core technologies. I would be remiss to not mention the CVOICE class, since the subjects discussed in CVOICE course should be grasped and understood before undertaking the pursuit of CIPT1 and CIPT2. This should be of no surprise, as this was a pre-requirement for CIPT1 and CIPT2 in earlier versions of the course, and not something new to the 8.0 version of the course.
If you are just beginning your journey on CIPT1 (and have completed and passed the CVOICE exam), you will need to gain an understanding of the various subjects involved in the CIPT1 and CIPT2 courseware. CIPT1 is concerned with Cisco Unified CM architecture, deployment models, redundancy, and administration, consisting of services, configuration, and enterprise parameters. Basic user configuration must be understood, consisting of roles, user groups, and individual configuration of users, as well as, using the bulk administration tool and LDAP.
CIPT1 focuses on the single-site deployment model, where the learner will need to understand the various gateways, H.323, MGCP, and SIP implementations. The IP Phones and protocols (SCCP and SIP) are included in the core technology as it was in the previous version of this course. The changes that are evident surround the newer features that were released between the version 7.x and 8.x features of software. For example, you must now understand the configuration of local route groups, globalized dial plan and its components, as well as, E.164 support and + dialing. The basic dial plan components, call coverage, and redundancy configuration parameters must be understood, along with the configuration and implementation of the traditional and line-device approach to calling privileges.
Other features discussed in CIPT include phone services, presence, media resources, and unified mobility. Unified mobility includes mobile connect and mobile voice access. This technology used to be included in CIPT2, but has now been moved to CIPT1. This is understandable, since this technology could be deployed in single site deployments.
However, there are some subjects that are no longer included as part of the courseware in CIPT1. These removed items include the software installation, basic switch and VLAN configuration, phone hardening, voicemail integration, and video.
If you have prepared for the earlier version of the CIPT1 and would like to upgrade your certification to the newer 8.0 version, you should prepare by learning the newer 7.x and 8.x features mentioned above. The items mentioned in the previous paragraph that are no longer part of the CIPT1 courseware should be a minor setback. Anyway, any information you have learned that is still good, even though it is not on the CIPT1 exam.
The CIPT2 version 8.0 courseware will build on your knowledge from CIPT1. The CIPT2 courseware surrounds the multisite deployment architectures and issues encountered with both centralized and distributed deployments. Much of this courseware will be similar to the older version, though updated to the current 8.0 version of software. These changes surround the discussion of SRST, AAR, redundancy, and TEHO implementations using globalized call routing, E.164, and + dialing.
As was discussed in previous versions, H.323 and MGCP fallback configurations are discussed. This means that an understanding of dial-peers, translation rules and profiles will need to be understood, which would have been learned in the CVOICE course. Remember that pre-requisite?
The CIPT2 version 8.0 still includes Call Admission Control, Device Mobility, and Extension Mobility. Call Admission Control now includes the new version 8.0 feature using SIP Precondition. Device Mobility and Extension Mobility have been upgraded to the new version of software and include their implementation in a globalized route plan and using the line-device approach. The completely new section of the CIPT2 surrounds the version 8.0 feature on Call Control Discovery (CCD) using Service Advertisement Framework (SAF).
Again, there are some subjects that have been entirely removed from CIPT2. The largest being the discussion of security, which is completely gone. Unified Mobility, if you remember, was moved to CIPT1. Gateway call applications, such as VoiceXML and TCL, have also been removed from CIPT2.
If you want to upgrade your study to the new CIPT2 v8.0 certification, I highly suggest that you get a good understanding of the software and new features included, as well as, a good understanding of globalized call routing and E.164. Of course, the best way to ensure that nothing is missed in your preparation is to enroll in an instructor-led CIPT1 and CIPT2 course, presented by a Cisco Certified Learning Partner. Not only will get a good understanding of all new features and technologies mentioned in this blog, but you will get hands-on lab experience, expert instruction, and the ability to interact with other technologists on that same journey to achieve Cisco certifications. I wish you the best in your pursuit of understanding, technology, and certifications.
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