VCE Introduces Industry's Most Comprehensive Converged Infrastructure Certification Program

RICHARDSON, Texas, April 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- VCE, the leader in converged infrastructure systems, today announced the new VCE™ Certified Professional Program, a comprehensive technology curriculum designed to provide IT professionals with advanced training for the design, deployment and management of converged infrastructures – the foundation for cloud-based computing.

This new program marks another major step in the VCE mission to transform the world's data centers with VCE Vblock™ Systems, the industry's leading true converged infrastructure offerings.  

By equipping customers and partners with expertise in the transformative, technical and operational capabilities of Vblock Systems, the VCE Certified Professional Program enables them to unleash the true potential of converged infrastructures. 

In the past, professional certifications for traditional data center architectures have emphasized component-level skillsets, reinforcing the "IT silo" mindset.  This creates complexity, increases operational costs and reduces IT's ability to deliver business agility.   

The VCE Certified Professional curriculum is based on the company's intellectual property and best practices that are being successfully utilized by hundreds of VCE's own technical professionals worldwide.

Because the VCE Certified Professional Program emphasizes the cross-domain nature of converged infrastructure and converged operations, program graduates will be positioned to vastly improve the speed and efficiency of applications and cloud services.

News Highlights

• The VCE Certified Professional Program was developed to help VCE customers and partners expand their skills and knowledge to lead the transformation to next-generation cloud infrastructures.
• The VCE Certified Professional Program furthers the company's mission to transform and simplify data center architectures through Vblock Systems by enabling IT professionals to align their skills with those required for converged infrastructure environments.
• Professionals will be certified in role-based programs that are best suited for their specific career paths. These role-based tracks include:
  • Design Track – Validates professionals in designing a Vblock System and working with customer IT stakeholders to understand requirements
  • Deploy Track – Certifies professionals in deploying and implementing Vblock Systems, conducting test validations and ensuring system compliance
  • Manage Track – Develops specialized skills in managing converged infrastructure systems and utilizing resources and software to meet SLAs, capacity and performance requirements, and management tasks 
• The VCE Certified Professional Program offers three different levels of certification as IT professionals successfully progress through the curriculum:
  • Converged Infrastructure Associate – As the foundation for all tracks, Associates understand converged infrastructure principals and terminology
  • Converged Infrastructure Engineer – Engineers are able to perform all of the basic tasks for their track role
  • Converged Infrastructure Master Engineer – Master engineers are able to complete the most complex tasks for their track role

Availability

• Exams for the VCE Certified Converged Infrastructure Associate and VCE Certified Converged Infrastructure Implementation Engineer (deployment track) are available globally to customers and partners today. The full spectrum of certifications will be available later in 2014.

Supporting Quotes

• "I am delighted that VCE has initiated its professional certification program to establish a curriculum, train and validate the skills required for the rapidly growing Vblock Systems ecosystem. VCE customers and partners will benefit from this new program, and it will speed the transformation of data centers," said Wayne Pauley, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc.
• "For the last few years, we've watched VCE expand the converged infrastructure space by heavily dedicating resources to support customers and partners – the VCE Certified Professional Program is another proof point to their success," said Emily Martin, Director, Technology and Client Services, Northern Micro, Inc. "The VCE certification program will prove our expertise in converged infrastructures, allowing our employees to better serve our customers and helping our customers to better serve their users."
• "VCE transformed data center architectures by changing how infrastructure is designed, built, managed and maintained. Today, the VCE Certified Professional Program continues to drive that transformation by arming our customers and partners with a differentiated skillset to deliver maximum benefit from converged infrastructures," said Nina Hargus, Chief Marketing Officer, VCE. "The new VCE certifications enable our customers and partners to take their expertise to the next level and become the cloud experts that organizations need for success in tomorrow's marketplace."

Supporting materials

• Customers can find a detailed description on becoming a VCE Certified Professional at http://vce.com/services/certified.
• Partners can find a detailed description on becoming a VCE Certified Professional on the VCE Partner Portal at https://partner.vce.com/enablement/training/certified.
• Read Nina Hargus's blog on why the program is important to customers and partners, "VCE Certifications Transform Next-Gen Cloud Skills for Partners and Customers."

Social media links

• Vblog
• VCE on Twitter
• VCE Channel on Twitter
• VCE on Facebook
• VCE on YouTube
• VCE on LinkedIn

About VCE

VCE, formed by Cisco and EMC with investments from VMware and Intel, accelerates the adoption of converged infrastructure and cloud-based computing models that dramatically reduce the cost of IT while improving time to market for our customers. VCE, through the Vblock Systems, delivers the industry's only true converged infrastructure systems, leveraging Cisco compute and network technology, EMC storage and data protection, and VMware virtualization and virtualization management. VCE solutions are available through an extensive partner network, and cover horizontal applications, vertical industry offerings, and application development environments, allowing customers to focus on business innovation instead of integrating, validating, and managing IT infrastructure.

For more information, go to www.vce.com.

Legal Notices

VCE and Vblock are registered trademarks or trademarks of VCE Company, LLC or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. The use of the word "partner" or "partnership" does not imply a legal partnership relationship between VCE and any other organization.

Tags

Certification, VCE, Vblock Systems, converged infrastructure, validation, expertise, management

SOURCE VCE