Cisco rolls out certification community

Cisco last week launched a new online community for its certification holders. The vendor created the portal for this audience to network with experts, employees, partners, resellers and other Cisco customers as well as to share and gather networking best practices.

Now in the pilot phase, the site is available to the more than 500,000 who hold valid Cisco certifications. Qualified individuals can go to www.cisco.com/go/certcommunity to access the online community free of charge. 

Among the many resources, the site contains news, discussion groups, video presentations, white papers and articles. It provides updates about the certification program, including recent changes, recertification requirements and upcoming courses and exams. And you’ll also find tips on passing exams, and even training. For example, the site features a “Tech Talk” video-on-demand segment and sample training modules from the Cisco Learning Connection.

“Besides offering practical advice on networking to Cisco certified individuals, the certification community portal will allow Cisco certified individuals to share knowledge – perhaps one of the best ways to learn,” says Don Field, senior manager of Cisco’s Internet Solutions Learning Group.

Cisco began working on the community about 10 weeks ago. “Because the portal is in the pilot stage, some of the features are still in development and we look forward to feedback from the site’s users as we develop and enhance this new benefit,” Field says. He expects the site to be available as a full program at some point in the fall.