Cisco Joins With EMC for Technical Education

Cisco Systems, Inc. is joining forces with EMC Corp. to offer technical education solutions in the areas of cloud architecture, virtualization, storage, data center networking and data science.

The joint education solutions from Cisco and EMC, which also incorporate course ware from VMware, Inc., will offer advanced training and certifications to help organizations acquire the skills required to successfully architect, build, and transform their IT infrastructures, adopt cloud computing, and realize the promise of big data and data science.

Explosive data growth and new transformational technologies such as cloud computing, converged infrastructure, unified networking and big data are changing the way organizations are running their businesses today. These new technologies affect not only IT systems and infrastructures, but also the practitioners that design, install, operate and manage them. New job roles are emerging that require next-generation skill sets. New skills and knowledge are needed for organizations, managers and individual end-users to maximize the benefits of these new technologies.

The education solutions will combine the curricula from Cisco, EMC and VMware, to offer a logically organized framework to address disciplines such as cloud architect, systems administrator, storage, backup and recovery, data center networking, data center network design, systems management, and data scientist.

Learning paths will make it simple for IT managers and practitioners to create education development plans by prescribing the specific course of training required for proficiency in each discipline.

For example, the systems administrator learning path
includes the following courses:

• Cloud Infrastructure and Services,
• VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage, and
• Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Implementation (DCUCI).

The Data Center Network Architect learning path
includes the following courses:

• EMC Cloud Infrastructure and Services,
• Cisco Data Center Unified Fabric (DCUFD), and Configuring Cisco Nexus Data Center (CCNDC).

Other courses include EMC’s Data Science and big data Analytics and EMC’s Information Storage and Management.

Bundles will offer purchase options for each of the prescribed learning paths for users to find, purchase and consume the appropriate courseware for their needs. Courses will also be offered individually for those who prefer an a la carte option.

Cisco will deliver its training as instructor-led training (ILT) and EMC (or in some cases VMware) will deliver the EMC and VMware training as ILT. Select courses will be available for customer onsite instruction by either Cisco or EMC. Additionally, some EMC courseware is offered through EMC’s convenient video instructor-led (VILT) training.

Jeanne Beliveau-Dunn, VP and GM of Learning@Cisco, said: "Today’s data center is composed of heterogeneous technologies, with the cloud blurring the lines between technology silos. IT organizations must cultivate new cloud architecture skills, understand how to use big data and maintain deep domain expertise with a renewed understanding of virtualization and technology convergence. With this offering Cisco and EMC are leading the way in transforming skills for the next generation of IT professionals."

Tom Clancy, VP of EMC Education Services, said: "EMC, Cisco and VMware are industry leaders offering best-of-breed data center and IT infrastructure technologies and services, through a strong and collaborative relationship. The education solutions Cisco and EMC are offering through this collaboration are conveniently packaged, flexible and value-priced. Our solutions will provide organizations, as well as the IT professional, a prescriptive and simple way to acquire the right skills at the right time, regardless of where they are in their journey to cloud computing, addressing big data or employing a data science strategy."

Hatem Naguib, VP, Alliances, VMware, said: "Today’s IT administrators are faced with a data center environment that is continuously evolving. VMware, Cisco and EMC’s education offerings will empower customers to easily and efficiently obtain the skills required to leverage new virtualization, cloud and data center technologies for the benefit of their organizations."

David Vellante, CEO and chief analyst, The Wikibon Project, said: "Enterprises are transforming from siloed data center operations to cloud computing and converged infrastructures to improve efficiency and agility. IT pros likewise need to adapt their skills to support such modern architectures. That means new ecosystem-focused training and educational programs – such as the new offering from Cisco, EMC and VMware – are needed to help IT pros stay relevant and valuable to their organizations."

Offerings and Availability:
Education solution bundles are aligned to key IT job roles and learning paths.

The courseware may also be purchased as traditional stand-alone training directly from Cisco and EMC.

The education solutions is available beginning April 2, 2012 from Cisco or EMC.