Cisco Systems is retiring its voice and video Certified Network certifications to pave the way for the expansion of its collaboration certifications specifically targeted at enabling partners to address the convergence of voice, video, data and mobile applications.
“Gone are the days when you just had the voice expert, or just the video expert or just somebody who understands how to set up instant messaging in your company,” said Tejas Vashi, director of product strategy and marketing at Cisco, in an interview with CRN. “You really need someone who has a view and has an understanding on how to test, configure, deploy, maintain, troubleshoot the entire collaboration suite — voice, video and data. That’s the skillset that’s been created in the industry.”
Vashi said collaboration is playing a bigger and more critical role in businesses and organizations as voice and video are converging. Cisco partners will be enabled to get trained on how to deploy collaborations most effectively within their business through the certifications, according to Vashi.