The Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) is the highest level of certification among all certifications offered by Cisco. CCIE is recognized as the best development in Cisco certification system and acknowledged worldwide as the finest technical certification in networking field.
The networking professionals who have CCIE certification on their hands are thought to be experts in networking industry and ones who have complete knowledge about the Cisco products. Often the highest level technical assignments are handed over to these networking engineers.
The CCIE was brought into the networking market in 1993 and since then Cisco is continuously updating it to keep it matched with its latest networking products and other technology changes. The CCIE is not an easy step and roughly 3% of the worldwide Cisco certified professionals have the status of CCIE certified professionals.
Prerequisites
There is no formal perquisite to have any lower level Cisco certification before you plan to go for The CCIE certification. But it requires the in-depth understanding of networking and technical issues and complications related to it. However it is often advised that only the professionals having 3-5 or more years experience in networking should pursue the CCIE certification.
Certification Modules for CCIE
There are 6 following modules in the CCIE certification that networking professionals can choose according to their interest.
1. Routing and Switching
2. Security
3. Service Provider
4. Storage Networking
5. Voice
6. Wireless
There is a separate 2 hour exam for each module with a fee of $250 for each module. A CCIE candidate has to pass an eight hour lab exam as well that cost them $1400. Cisco has a variety of training courses on their website that assist CCIE candidates in their exam preparation. These training courses are also available on other websites with additional training.
Routing & Switching:
The routing and switching module verifies network engineers' expertise in the planning, operation and troubleshooting of a complex or highly technical networking setup.
Security:
The security module of the CCIE verifies the skills of networking personal in IP and IP routing along with the networking security procedures and components.
Service Provider:
The service provider track from the CCIE certification validates skills in the configuration of the Service Provider framework that offers manageable networking services.
Storage & Networking:
The networking storage module validates the ability of professionals in remote networking storage solutions by the application of different networking techniques in transport.
Voice:
The voice module of CCIE verifies your skills in Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) solutions. Candidates going for CCIE-voice should know how to install, configure and manage different IP issues over a network.
Wireless:
The wireless module verifies your skills in wireless LAN and WLAN and other wireless networking solutions.
Recertification:
CCIE certification is valid for three years and in order to maintain your CCIE status you have to sit in the written or lab exams of CCDE or CCIE. The recertification should immediately be obtained before the deadline for recertification expires. CCDE or CCIE active certification brings Professional, Associate, Expert, and Specialist certification is by default.
Salary Information:
The networking individuals who successfully earn the status of CCIE often get salaries falling in the range of $100,000 and even more that makes the CCIE certification the most sought after Cisco certification.
