Cisco CCNA and CCNP Data Center Announced

We had seen the official press release last week, but weren't able to say anything until it became public today, and now the Learning@Cisco team has finally released the CCNA Data Center and CCNP Data Center certs for public consumption. A consolidated requirements page can be found here. One unique thing about these two is that they don't require a standard CCNA (R&S) first as a pre-requisite. This makes sense, since this track has literally nothing to do with IOS. It also is largely because at the CCNA Data Center level, they are basically re-introducing you to every standard Ethernet and LAN switching concepts in the DCICN exam. Also, they seem to to be doubling down on the Cisco ACE, even though they are now partnering with, and recommending Citrix NetScaler to customers. Strange.

If I were a betting man, I'd wager that CCNA, CCNP and CCIE Video shouldn't be too far around the corner as logical next steps for Cisco to release. Now, if you take a look at Cisco's Career certs and learning paths, I wonder when they'll finally fill in the CCNA and CCNP for Storage? My wager on that one would be ... never. ;-)