Cisco's New CCNP Security Certification
A look at Cisco's new CCNP Security certification and how it relates to the still-existent CCSP.
In an article on Network World, author Wendell Odom takes a closer look at the CCSP and CCNP Security co-existence and transition. Odom explains that after passing a Cisco exam, you have a two to three year time frame to use the expertise gained before passing the exam again. This ensures qualification and validates exams towards certificates. The new CCNP Voice has a few additions but for the most part updates exams to coincide with the latest software releases. CCNP Security is fundamental change in the cert. After careful research Cisco discovered that the older CCSP cert was more product oriented and needed to be upgraded to define a job role.
"For in process folks, you can pursue the old exams with at least enough time to pass (April/May 2011) to pass an exam that you were already studying for. And, if you don't manage to complete the process by October 2011, those old exams - if they fit into the list of chosen ones - still have a useful lifetime of 3 years from passing each exam. The chosen ones - the exams in the figure - are essentially the ones closest to the engineering spirit of the new CCNP Security. For in-process CCSPs, Cisco really would prefer you consider the new exams for future exams. Why? They truly believe that the new exams assess more real-world skills, and are more valuable to you. But as you see from the migration plan, and the fact that the old exams are useful for getting CCNP Security, Cisco's using only a carrot, but no stick. Finally, some of the information posted here today cannot currently be confirmed using information on Cisco's web site. Before staking your plan on what I have written here, please watch and listen at Cisco.com for confirmation. This post is based on what I heard, and with the human element involved, may have errors, so please do look to confirm the info independently as well."
