Cisco Career Certification programs for IT services.......

The widely respected IT certification programs available through Cisco Certifications bring valuable, measurable rewards to network professionals, their managers, and the organizations that employ them.Cisco offer five levels of general IT certification: Entry, Associate, Professional, Expert and Architect, the highest level of accreditation within the Cisco Career Certification program.Various tracks—such as Routing and Switching, Network Security, and Service Provider—are available, so that you can match your certification path to your job role or industry.

 

Architect Certification

Borderless Networks Solutions

Design                                               Cisco Certified Architect

Career Certifications
Certification Paths	Entry-Level	Associate	Professional	Expert
Borderless Networks Solutions
Routing & Switching	CCENT	CCNA	CCNP	CCIE Routing & Switching
Design	CCENT	CCDA	CCDP	CCDE
Network Security	CCENT	CCNA Security	CCNP Security	CCIE Security
Wireless	CCENT	CCNA Wireless	CCNP Wireless	CCIE Wireless
Collaboration Solutions
Voice	CCENT	CCNA Voice	CCNP Voice	CCIE Voice
Data Center Solutions
Data Center				CCIE Data Center
Storage Networking	CCENT			CCIE Storage Networking
Service Provider Solutions
Service Provider	CCENT	CCNA Service Provider	CCNP Service Provider	CCIE Service Provider
Service Provider Operations	CCENT	CCNA Service Provider Operations	CCNP Service Provider Operations	CCIE Service Provider Operations

Technician Certifications
Cisco Certified Technician	CCT Routing & Switching CCT Data Center CCT TelePresence
Specialist Certifications
Collaboration Certifications	Voicemail and Messaging Specialists Cisco Unified Presence Specialist Cisco Unity Design Specialist Cisco Unity Support Specialist
Data Center Certifications	Data Center Application Services Cisco Data Center Application Services Design Specialist Cisco Data Center Application Services Support Specialist Data Center Networking Infrastructure Cisco Data Center Networking Infrastructure Design Specialist Cisco Data Center Networking Infrastructure Sales Specialist Cisco Data Center Networking Infrastructure Support Specialist Data Center Storage Networking Cisco Data Center Storage Networking Design Specialist Cisco Data Center Storage Networking Sales Specialist Cisco Data Center Storage Networking Support Specialist Data Center Unified Computing Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Design Specialist Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Support Specialist
Security Certifications	Certifications Cisco ASA Specialist Cisco Firewall Security Specialist Cisco IOS Security Specialist Cisco IPS Specialist Cisco Network Admission Control Specialist Cisco VPN Security Specialist
Video Certifications	Cisco Rich Media Communications Specialist Cisco TelePresence Solutions Specialist

Microsoft Certifications by Technology

 The following tables list Microsoft certifications and describe how they enable you to demonstrate and validate your skills and experience.

ITprofessional
MCSE	Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) certifications are designed to recognize IT professionals who can design and build solutions across multiple technologies, both on-premise and in the cloud. Previous versions of this certification were called Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer and demonstrated the ability to design and implement Windows Sever 2003 (and earlier) infrastructures.
MCSA	Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) certifications validate the core technical skills required to build a sustainable career in IT. MCSA opens the door to multiple career paths and is a requirement for MCSE certifications. Previous versions of this certification were called Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator and demonstrated the ability to administrate network and systems environments running Windows Sever 2003 (and earlier).
MCITP	Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) certifications recognize IT professionals who demonstrate skills in planning, deploying, supporting, maintaining, and optimizing IT infrastructures.
MCTS	Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) certifications help IT professionals target specific technologies and distinguish themselves by demonstrating in-depth knowledge and expertise.
MTA	Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA) certifications help students explore career options in technology, demonstrate their fundamental knowledge of hardware and IT infrastructure, and prepare for advanced studies, MCSA exams, and MCTS exams.
MCDST	The Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician (MCDST) certification is no longer available. It recognized IT professionals who demonstrated technical and customer service skills in troubleshooting hardware and software operation issues in Microsoft Windows environments.
MCDBA	The Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA) certification recognizes IT professionals who demonstrate their ability to design, implement, and administer Microsoft SQL Server 2000 databases.
Developer
MCSD	Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD) certifications recognize developers who demonstrate the ability to design and develop leading-edge business solutions in the cloud. Previous versions of MCSD were called Microsoft Certified Solution Developer and were available for earlier versions of Microsoft development tools, technologies, and platforms.
MCPD	Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD) certifications identify developers who demonstrate comprehensive skills in designing, developing, and deploying applications for a particular job role.
MTA	Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA) certifications help students explore career options in technology, demonstrate their fundamental knowledge of software technology, and prepare for advanced studies, MCSA exams, and MCTS exams.
MCAD	The Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD) certification is no longer available. It recognized IT professionals who demonstrated the ability to use Microsoft technologies to develop and maintain department-level applications, components, web or desktop clients, or back-end data services.

 

Advanced certifications
Microsoft Certified Solutions Master Microsoft Certified Master	The Microsoft Certified Solutions Master (MCSM) and Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) programs recognize the most experienced IT professionals who demonstrate and validate their deep technical skills to successfully design and implement technical solutions in a complex business environment.
Microsoft Certified Architect	The Microsoft Certified Architect program recognizes and provides advanced certification to practicing architects in an enterprise setting.
Home and office user
MOS	Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certifications are globally recognized for demonstrating advanced business skills in using Microsoft Office 2010, the 2007 Microsoft Office system, and Windows Vista; or highly developed skills in using other Microsoft desktop software.

 

Trainer
MCT	The Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) certification identifies technical and instructional experts in Microsoft technologies. They are the only individuals authorized to deliver official training for Microsoft Certification.
MCLC	The Microsoft Certified Learning Consultant (MCLC) credential is no longer available. It recognized Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCTs) with expertise in designing and delivering customized learning solutions.

How to Start Software Company

It’s a fast paced world out there. Everyday, new markets are being created for software development, and many eager programmers are trying to wrestle the cash cow into the ground. Unfortunately, year after year, fledgling software companies crash into oblivion.

If you are really passionate about software development, why not start your own software development service that will provide consumers with exactly what they are looking for? Many people with this talent overlook the demand for them and their abilities in the market place and they pursue other careers when they needn't do anything but what they love and are naturally good at. You can start your own company, in fact there is plenty of room in the Arizona software development market for you and your talents and your knowledge and abilities will only grow and become more focused when you start your own business. The time is now, what are you waiting for?
Perhaps you are not actually a Phoenix software development expert but you see the need for such a service. You can still pursue this type of business you simply need to know where and when to hire the right people that do have the skills and the knowledge needed. You also need to come up with a plan as to when and why you need to outsource services to other places, places that perhaps a world away from where you are.
To create a Scottsdale software development service, or a service that is based in any area actually you need a few key things. First, you need to be a person or be able to hire a person that is good at designing, such as the interface of the program. Then, you need one to three programmers that can then lay out the basic framework of the program. Not only do you need programmers, you need affordable programmers that can write code for the program. Lastly, you need to be a person or be able to hire a person that can speak with and deal with potential clients that you want to win contracts with. When you are able to build this team you will be able to successfully start your own software development service, and if you market right and really put yourself out there you will start making money in no time at all!
This sounds like a lot of work, right? Luckily, if you have this interest you may already have some of the abilities needed to make your company a success. If you are lucky you probably also have friends or acquaintances that would be willing to fill other needs of the company. Many people are able to start their own software development company with a group of friends because each is able to fulfill the needs of the company and in very little time they are a thriving service provider that is able to offer competitive rates to customers and provide each of those involved with a comfortable living.

Start off with a worthwhile project. Although ideas of grandiosity are always welcome in the virtual world, starting a software company needs realistic thinking and level-headedness. After all, grandiose ideas are for free, but the budget it would need to fulfill those ideas would be enormous. Unless your name is associated with a funding of several millions of dollars or rhymes categorically like Bill Gates, you really need to start off with a simple project. ‘Simple’ is a relative term here, especially if you are dealing with seasoned software programmers. Usually however, simple ideas like upgrading a small working model or providing a faster system or basically anything that makes the present available technologies in the marker more friendly-user are seeds of worthwhile projects. If you are using a current technology, and you see some areas of the program that need more work done, or a better mode of usage, you could start on these.

A young man studying at the University of Helsinki thought that he could create a better operating system other than the one which was provided by the university’s academic environment. He eventually developed a better system, and the Linux kernel was born. What was the young man’s name? Linus Torvalds.

If you prefer creating your own software instead of restructuring an existing one, you need to do a lot of research beforehand. You have to ensure that your “project” has a niche in the software world, that it is an original concept, that there is no one else in the world working on such a project – or if there is a rival company with the same project in the works, you have to make sure that you can actually launch your product before this other company beats you to the punch. Although this can become a tedious research, the payback for such originality is great. Think html software which was an original concept back in its day, and now it is one of the most used software in the world.

You need to find programmers working on the same page. Brilliant minds have major advantages and major disadvantages, and this rule holds true with programmers of all levels. Encoding, decoding, testing and ultimately launching new software is a very tedious process. Unless all of your brilliant minds are working for the same goals at the same fervent energy, you will probably have a lot of bickering on your hands with little or no work done at all. Also, if you are apt to work with friends or colleagues, make sure that a hierarchy is established early in the company: an administrator or a manager will do fine. A software company needs to run as a business operation, and not as a college group assignment going on overtime. Your goal after all, is to create a company that will bank on the software you create; which would (hopefully) mean that once there are takers, you have income flowing in. Think of it as a business venture always.

Give your company time. Not all business ventures boom with its first introduction to the market, and a software company will certainly not shake the world once it has “formed” itself. Software, in particular, need a lot of time to write, construct, debug and successfully launch, so give your company time to test and retest whatever project you are developing. You have to put in mind though that time and money is ticking away for every moment that passes, so try to tighten your company’s purse strings during your research and development stages. Premature launching of software in the market is not only disastrous on your company’s reputation; it also costs time and money. However, aside from working against a ticking clock, you are also trying to keep one step ahead of your likely competitors.

Cloud Computing & Rise of Virtual Enterprises

                                       Rise of Virtual Enterprises 
With the advent and a subsequent sprawl of the Internet into, possibly, every facet of life, there has been a radical shift in the way organizations do business today. The traditional organizations that turned digital some years back are now, bridging the physical barriers and slowly turning into virtual organizations. The Internet has played the role of a catalyst in bringing about this transformation and with the technological sophistication experienced over the years, has helped in blooming the virtual world. Then there have been, of course, the changing needs of the organizations, their employees, customers, investors and regulators that have dictated the change to bring about the order of this new world.

An offspring of the Internet, the Cloud, has enabled the established organizations to shift their focus from the maintenance of their infrastructure back to managing their core business. Smaller organizations too have been released from the constraint of investing in a sound infrastructure before their business can kick start. The Cloud has enabled companies to expand their reach into unknown territories; reaching and supporting a remote customer in real-time was never as achievable before. For competitive edge, through the Cloud, organizations are able to link and integrate, unifying their core competencies to function as a single organization, commonly known as the Virtual Organization. The rules of the game have changed.

                                   Rise of the global Cloud champions

The concept of application hosting has been in prevalence for as long as three decades. Of course, earlier the applications were put up on the Web for a subsequent download, local installation and use. Going a step further from Cloud computing and the idea of hosting a Cloud for application sharing and distribution, a number of companies today have opened their Cloud infrastructure to other companies for development and deployment and thus creating what is called as PaaS. Google can be a great example to quote here since it not only offers its set of commoditized services over its Cloud (SaaS); it has also opened up its Cloud infrastructure to host third party applications on top of their own. Another good example can be Microsoft which has been slowly charting its way to Cloud computing over the last several years, releasing SaaS products like Windows Live and Office Live and most recently, Office 365 – an online version of their desktop products.

Apart from Google and Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo, and Symantec too have made significant investments in Cloud computing services. Another similar undertaking is Adobe Photoshop Express (to edit and manage photos online) and online services like creating PDF files, converting PDF to Word, online form, sending large files and hosting online meetings. Some popular examples of business models on Cloud include ebay.com and salesforce.com. The industry sectors where Cloud computing is extensively being used are financial institutions, insurance, telecommunication, manufacturing, technology, education and government.

                          Adoption of Cloud computing in India

Davis Partners, a global leader in Cloud infrastructure and hosted IT solution for enterprise and Bharati Airtel, a leading global telecommunications company joined hands to launch a major Cloud computing initiative in India. This initiative involves Airtel providing World-class data center facilities, unsurpassed bandwidth capacity along with World-class network connectivity and Davis providing its technical expertise to offer best-in-class Cloud services.

ata Communications, one of India's leading enterprise telecom service company has been investing heavily in IaaS. Last year it launched InstaCompute, which offers enterprises the choice of being able to buy basic computing services and pay for it depending on usage. The company's core infrastructure is provided by Cloud.com, the leader in Open Source Cloud computing software.

Adoption of Cloud computing among schools, colleges and universities is also gaining momentum. In a quest to offer high quality education content and instruction to the masses, NIIT Limited, a leading Global Talent Development Corporation launched NIIT Cloud Campus which allowed students to access educational services using a net book or mobile device. In 2010, NIIT and MS launched cutting edge training programs on MS Azure platform. Among other significant innovations in the Cloud computing domain is SAP which has introduced end to end on-demand integrated business software - Business ByDesign. A SaaS offering for mid-size enterprises, ByD provides users a platform to manage all their critical applications without the burden of investing in a large scale infrastructure.

         Cloud service delivery: challenges and caveats

The Cloud computing market is getting more and more cluttered with Cloud providers, each one trying to differentiate itself from others. The price war and price undercutting could threaten the long term sustainability of this business model. Owing to the shared and centralized infrastructure offered by the Cloud, the customer expects lower service costs vis-à-vis other traditional service delivery models. This puts a constant pressure on the Cloud service providers to strike a right balance between devising an optimum pricing strategy (to make profits) and deliverables such as guaranteed levels of performance, uptime and responsiveness (at reduced costs) to retain a customer.

Consumers face the challenge to evaluate Cloud service offering by numerous providers. As competition grows fierce, chances of over commitment and underperformance by service providers are high. Customers need to separate the rice from the chaff while evaluating the claims made by the service provider in terms of the service offered versus service delivered. Inexperienced customers may get overwhelmed by the complexity of determining the right price value proposition. Also, in the Cloud computing space, meaningful SLAs may also be eyewash. While service providers may claim a near 100% availability of their Cloud service, more often than not this may just a tall, unverifiable claim. There may also be grave support issues, if the Cloud service provider does not offer a dedicated and on-demand technical support.

This transition from traditional computing to Cloud based delivery will happen gradually. Switching consumers from customized apps & propriety databases would require efforts from users as well as Cloud vendors. Vendors will have to provide continuous handholding to inexperienced customers to ensure smooth transition.

           Emerging business models and road ahead

The last couple of years have witnessed a number of business models evolving around Cloud computing. To address the existing challenges and respond to customer anxieties concerning predicting Cloud costs, a number of tools have come up to help businesses get an estimation on the real cost of their Cloud usage. A latest offering is Uptime software which has introduced an IT resource monitoring application offering services like virtualization, dashboard, graphic user interface and 24 by 7 support. This proactive monitoring tool provides utilization trends of critical enterprise applications and also identifies any potential problems like outages. 

To optimize unused Cloud capacity and infrastructure inventory SpotCloud, an online marketplace recently launched SpotCloud Marketplace Platform, offering buyers and sellers a platform to transact online Cloud capacity. This first-of-its-kind initiative offers a win-win proposition to buyers (bid and select from thousands of sellers) and sellers (incremental revenues from excess computing capacity).

In India, with the deployment of 3rd generation Internet technologies, the adoption rate for Cloud computing among individuals and enterprises is bound to increase.

Despite the benefits associated with Cloud computing services, consumers have shown their share of concern related to data security and privacy issues. Other concerns include data ownership and degree of control which makes them wary before signing up for such services. In an Ernst & Young 2010 survey involving 50 Chief Information officers (CIOs) from small and medium business enterprises in India, an overwhelming 72% of the respondents cited potential data privacy and security issues as extremely significant concerns while adopting Cloud computing.

Cloud computing could also pose potential conflict of interest among Cloud vendor and enterprise customers whose products or services are complementary or cater to similar kind of customer needs. For example, Google and Salesforce have joined hands to integrate Google Apps account to Salesforce CRM. It allows users to integrate Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Docs, and Google Sites with Salesforce CRM. Potential conflict could occur in case Google decides to offer its own CRM application.

It is probably high time that policies and guidelines are made to report benchmark rates for Cloud services which could be a reference point for ensuring price and value parity across providers. This would set the right tone for an informed decision making by the customer. This would also bring about transparency in communicating the true cost of service delivery to the customer as well as, ensuring long term commitments, economic viability and sustainability of the Cloud computing model.