CCIE Collaboration: The career leap

Change the first word that comes to my mind when I learned about the evolution of cooperation CCIE Voice CCIE. The collaboration CCIE has introduced many changes in the traditional CCIE Voice certification. Not just a name change, is a refinement of the CCIE Voice certification mature and the inclusion of some new technologies and equipment.

I would use this blog to talk about this new Cisco certification and begin talking about the changes that the certification most recent collaboration brings.

First let's take a look at the hardware. The newest and most exciting hardware change comes as Cisco UCS server (the C460 to be precise). This computing machine churns out thin enough processing power to feed a small data center. It supports some of the best and latest Intel Xeon processors and supports up to 2 terabytes of RAM. Charles Babbage would be proud!

 Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) C460 Rack Server

The routers have been lifted first-generation ISR ISR G2 second generation . 28XX and 38XX The old series routers have been replaced by the 2921 and 3925 . These routers are very capable and brings a number of features , modules and interface cards that could not be possible with the previous generation of routers.

One of these modules is the Cisco Service Ready Form 710, a versatile upgrade for the Cisco ISR G2 . These modules a punch and 1.86 GHz . Intel to feed them. To support applications ready service module is equipped with 4 GB of DRAM and fast 7200 RPM 500 GB HDD. The only applications supported are enough to get excited about. Some of the applications are Ready Media Services Module Cisco Unity Express , Cisco UCS Express , Cisco AXP , Cisco WLC , Cisco Wide Area Application Services ( WAAS) , Infoblox Core Network Services Module Cisco Prime Network Analysis (NAM ) , Cisco Unified SIP Proxy for Cisco Unified Messaging Gateway ( UMG ) , Cisco Survivable Remote Site Voicemail ( SRSV ) , and the list goes on . ISR G2 L ' also carry PVDM 3 T1 and E1 cards and third generation.

Cisco 3925 Integrated Services Routers Generation 2 (ISR G2)

 Cisco 2921 Integrated Services Routers Generation 2 (ISR G2)

Cisco Service Ready Module 700 Service Module

The Switch 3750 has been updated to the new 3750-x. Since the CCIE exams in collaboration ISR G2 and 3750-x IOS versions have used the wagon (2), respectively, and 15.0 M main station 15.2940.

Cisco Catalyst 3750-X Series Switch

The CCIE exam collaboration also introduces the latest 9971 Unified IP phones. A beautiful and feature rich phone that brings video calling capability with it. More on Video in a while ', but for now I want to move on updates to the software side of the exam.

Cisco Unified IP Phone 9971

The CCIE Voice tested on the aging CUOSes running version 7 and in CCIE Collaboration these versions have now been upgraded to version 9.1/9.0/8.6 as listed below

• Cisco Unified Communications Manager 9.1
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express 9.1
• Cisco Unified Contact Center Express 9.0
• Cisco Unified Communications Manager IM and Presence 9.1
• Cisco Unity Connection 9.1
• Cisco Unity Express 8.6 

These latest CUOSes offer a lot of new features to be tested on. Older features were renovated and / or expanded. Anyone who has worked in version 7 can easily notice that this is not just an incremental update , but a significant improvement over previous versions. Two more new technologies are very excited to talk together CCIE included ie the composition of ILS / URI and SAF CCD . These last two technologies are changing the paradigm of how a call is routed to multiple clusters and how they can communicate. CUCM version 7 does not support these features and many other features. Cisco was nice to make the jump from version 7 to version 9 skipping version 8 . On the software front it was also nice to see the presence of jabber . Cisco Jabber for Windows and Cisco Jabber Video for TelePresence are some of the clients that will be tested in the CCIE exam collaboration.

For the complete CCIE Collaboration Lab Equipment and Software List you can go to https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/docs/DOC-20807

The mixture of the 9971 ISR G2 with PVDM3s of , CUCM 9.1, Jabber, and the video makes me excited because it is much better than just plain old VoIP . The video quality can be achieved with a great team and technology, it is really incomprehensible . Personally , I've seen a lot of movies in 1080 , however, so my first video call literally overwhelmed my senses . The rich crisp sound was music to my ears and stream 1080p video quality looked more like real life . The video was flawless, without delay , jitter or delay.

Testing technologies , such as ILS / URI , SAF / CCD and Jabber with the federation can mean only one implementation of multiple clusters compared to a single cluster deployment in CCIE Voice exam . Thus , indicating that the collaboration CCIE exam will be tested on a much larger scale .

So what does this mean for you and me to say ? Well, it's a big jump from other CCIE certifications not to mention the CCIE Voice. Try the latest version of the technology / hardware on a full scale. A certified true real world as this can make someone's career . I can only wait patiently until the review is released, but come February 14 and there will be something better to wait for Valentine's Day !