Up, Up, and Away to the Clouds: Cisco Multicloud Specialist Certifications

Is it a hen? Is it a aircraft? No, it’s the most recent certifications from Cisco Finding out and Certifications! That’s proper, I’m glad to proportion some main points at the 3 latest Cisco Specialist certifications with you all. And all 3 relate to that subject that remains to be at the minds of each and every engineer, IT chief, and corporate—the CLOUD!

Each and every hero merits an starting place tale…

Cloud is obviously crucial subject for us all within the IT international these days, and we knew that cloud-related certifications belonged within the Finding out and Certifications portfolio of tech occupation certifications.  However we needed to do them proper.

Sign up for me on a brief little commute again in time, if you’ll.

It was once June 2022, and I used to be in Las Vegas for Cisco Reside.  It was once a very good match, after all, but it surely was once additionally the primary time in a very long time that we’d been in a position to get in combination as a Finding out and Certifications staff in particular person.  One night as a staff dinner was once completing up, I discovered myself sitting with Par Merat, VP of Finding out and Certifications, and Joe Clarke, Prominent Engineer extraordinaire for Finding out and Certification.

We began speaking about what must come subsequent for certifications from Cisco (a subject matter that we discuss so much.. certs don’t stand nonetheless), and Cloud, after all, got here up.  After brainstorming some concepts, a theme began to shape.  We would have liked to ensure any new cloud certification focused sides of the cloud that Cisco and Cisco Qualified engineers had vital roles to play. We additionally discovered {that a} unmarried all-encompassing “Cisco Cloud Certification” wasn’t sensible.  Cloud is just too large and huge a subject matter. The speculation of use case focused concentrations got here up, a certification that immediately aligned to the sorts of initiatives that our group was once being requested to do on a daily basis.

For example, I introduced up one thing I’d heard such a lot of community engineers discuss running on for his or her corporations.  They had been being requested to attach their company community WANs to the general public cloud networks in some way that presented consistency in design, engineering, and operations.  They had to combine the cloud networks into the company networks and didn’t simply need to “bolt it on.” So I floated an concept for a “Safe Cloud Connectivity” certification that targeted in this downside and the Cisco generation and answers that would lend a hand clear up this downside these days.

The speculation resonated, and it ultimately changed into “Designing and Imposing Cloud Connectivity,” the primary of the 3 Multi-Cloud Certifications that got here out of this idea.

Deliver out the certs!!!!

This brings us again to these days, and I’m so pleased with the means we took for those certifications and the 3 new Skilled-level specializations that we’ve launched.

The primary one introduced was once the already offered “Designing and Imposing Cloud Connectivity” certification.  This certification is a part of the Undertaking Skilled observe and covers the structure, generation, and operation of the protected community interconnections between private and non-private clouds the usage of Cisco applied sciences.  What’s actually thrilling to me about this certification is that it acknowledges that there are a number of imaginable tactics to construct community bridges between clouds and that community engineers will have to stability the industry and technical necessities in their endeavor when comparing and deciding on what is correct for a mission.

In case you are an endeavor community skilled managing the connections to the general public cloud, it is a certification you must no doubt take a look at.  The primary date to check is September twentieth, 2023 – which is nearly right here!  As a focus examination within the Undertaking observe, it may be blended with a cross at the “Imposing Cisco Undertaking Community Core Applied sciences” (ENCOR) examination to earn your CCNP Undertaking certification.

The second one new cloud certification is “Designing and Imposing Safe Cloud Get right of entry to for Customers and Endpoints” which lives within the Safety Skilled observe and has what may well be the good sounding acronym of all of our certifications, “SCATZ”. With SCATZ, we needed to focus on the alternate in how enterprises are offering customers get admission to to packages and knowledge.

After I first began at Cisco about 13 years in the past, just about each and every software, inner site, wiki, information proportion, or instrument I had to do my activity required that I determine a VPN into Cisco’s community.  This was once to make sure that most effective licensed customers accessed the necessary programs inside of Cisco’s company community.  Lately that isn’t the case.  There are only a few instances that I’ve to open up AnyConnect and connect with Cisco’s VPN community anymore.  That doesn’t imply that Cisco isn’t apprehensive about safety, moderately the other, Cisco is hyper-aware of safety.  However we also are very occupied with person enjoy and making programs simply and constantly to be had.  With updates in our safety portfolio from Duo, Umbrella, Firepower, and Safe Analytics, we will now supply constant and efficient safety to Cisco’s world and really hybrid group of workers with out forcing every folks to be tethered to a VPN connection always.

The SCATZ focus examination evaluates safety pros’ talent to design and put in force all these answers for their very own enterprises.  It’s an implausible addition to the protection focus choices for applicants having a look to earn their CCNP Safety after passing the “Imposing and Working Cisco Safety Core Applied sciences” (SCOR) examination.  The primary date to take a seat for SCATZ is November 20, 2023.

The remaining of the 3 cloud certifications is “Designing and Imposing Cisco Carrier Supplier Cloud Community Infrastructure” as a result of as cool as it’s to devour cloud products and services, any person nonetheless has to construct it.  In the end, the most efficient definition of “the cloud” is “any person else’s laptop”.  Whilst this certification is within the Carrier Supplier Skilled observe, I feel it’s value a glance through any endeavor or information heart skilled construction personal cloud as neatly.  It explores the entire virtualization, automation, and construction infrastructure at scale subjects which can be key to providing powerful, on-demand cloud products and services to fulfill the ever-increasing person expectancies.  It is usually complete of a few very cool community applied sciences that make me need to fan the flames of Cisco Modeling Labs and get started labing to organize to take the examination.  And I’ve nonetheless were given time to organize, the primary date to check for this certification isn’t till January 20, 2024.

What about coaching?

What would a Cisco certification be with out coaching categories and fabrics to lend a hand applicants get ready?  Smartly, it almost certainly wouldn’t be a Cisco certification in any respect.  🙂

Our coaching content material construction staff has been laborious at paintings construction new Cisco U Finding out Paths and Trainer Lead coaching classes to lend a hand applicants be informed all the bits and bobs of those thrilling cloud use circumstances and get in a position to take and cross those new tests.  Those coaching categories will come with the similar top quality hands-on lab enjoy that you simply’ve come to be expecting from reliable Cisco Finding out content material. Simply get a have a look at this topology that will probably be a part of the “Designing and Imposing Cloud Connectivity” path.

The categories are in construction now, so keep tuned for main points on once they’ll be to be had to Cisco U subscribers to dive into.  And no doubt ask your favourite Cisco Finding out Spouse once they plan to start out providing the brand new categories.  Even with the supply of such a lot on-demand technical coaching content material, I nonetheless love the chance to paintings with a professional teacher and find out how one thing works.  The non-scripted portions of the educational and having the ability to ask questions and dive down some technical threads at school are so treasured.

Smartly, that’s about it for now.  I’m hoping you’re as fascinated by those new cloud certifications as we’re.  Which one are you interested by taking first?  Are you already finding out and need to be some of the first to earn the brand new specialization?  Let me know within the feedback!

Assets

Examination subject blueprints

Designing and Imposing Cloud Connectivity v1.0 (ENCC 300-440)

Designing and Imposing Safe Cloud Get right of entry to for Customers and Endpoints v1.0 (SCAZT 300-740)

Designing and Imposing Cisco Carrier Supplier Cloud Community Infrastructure (SPCNI 300-540)