Cisco has made significant changes to their CCNP Training, including eliminating the old Building Cisco Remote Access Networks (BCRAN) and Cisco Internetworking Troubleshooting (CIT) class (thank goodness).  CIT was arguably the worst of the Cisco authorized classes and will not be missed by many of us.

As the network evolves to support end-to-end IP solutions, several skills sets such as: Security, Wireless LANS, Quality of Service, and Voice over IP are critical for planning, implementing, and deploying Cisco’s advance technologies. The new CCNP certification is intended to provide the student the skills necessary to install, configure, and troubleshoot networks based on advance technologies defined in these courses.

The two new classes are as follows:

Implementing Secure Converged Wide Area Networks (ISCW)

Implementing Secure Converged Wide Area Networks (ISCW) v1.0 is an advanced instructor-led course that introduces techniques and features enabling or enhancing WAN and remote access solutions. This five-day course focuses on using one or more of the available WAN connection technologies for remote access between enterprise sites.

Optimizing Converged Cisco Networks (ONT)

The Optimizing Converged Cisco Networks (ONT) v1.0 covers skills in optimizing and providing effective QOS techniques in converged networks supporting voice, wireless and security applications. SMEs should be CCSI’s certified to teach QoS classes.

In addition the Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks and Building Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks (BCMSN) courses have been substantially changed:

Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks (BSCI) 3.0

BSCI 3.0 instructs network administrators of medium-to-large network sites on the use of advanced IP addressing and routing in implementing scalability for Cisco routers that are connected to LANs and WANs. The BSCI v3.0 course has eight modules with several lessons per module and numerous hands-on labs. The goal is to train network administrators to dramatically increase the number of routers and sites using these techniques instead of redesigning the network when additional sites or wiring configurations are added.

Building Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks (BCMSN) v3.0

BCMSN 3.0 instructs students on how to create an efficient and expandable enterprise network by installing, configuring, monitoring, and troubleshooting network infrastructure equipment according to the Campus Infrastructure module in the Enterprise Composite Network Model (ECNM).