Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE)

Overview:

In January, Cisco launched a very important, new high-level certification: the Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE) certification. The CCDE is the expert-level certification that those network designers have been waiting for. CCDE Assesses advanced Network Infrastructure Design Principles and Fundamentals for large networks. A CCDE can demonstrate an ability to develop solutions which address planning, design, integration, optimization, operations, security and ongoing support focused at the infrastructure level for customer networks.
The Primary focus of this Certification is not CCIE point of view as the focus for the CCIE is ISP or Service Provider (More of a support & Implement role). With the New trends in the Data Center Architecture, and HPC environment growing the CCDE is focused on high performance routing LANs or MAN’s, with Multiprotocol support like the Unified Fabric of Cisco Nexus Switches. The WAN would be a secondary focus as Ethernet from a Service provider has become much cheaper and more practical.

Skills:

Mastered skills of designing network infrastructure and also troubleshooting, integration, optimization, operations, and security are introduced those who take this exam. It is expert level certification for all kind of problems related to network and its design.

Eligibility:

Prerequisites for CCDE. There are no formal prerequisites for CCDE certification. Other professional certifications or training courses are not required. One can simply appear in the exams by just preparing for the exam and nthing else is required to be elgible in the exams.

Exam:

You must first past the computerized test before you can schedule the lab exam. The exam name for the CCDE written test is ADVDESIGN, and that’s what you need to know: How to design advanced networks. Cisco recommends that you have at least five to seven years of experience designing advanced networks before taking the test.

Step One: The exam lasts two hours, and the exam blueprint covers just about anything that anyone could ever think of related to complex networks. It is a must pass the two-hour, written qualification exam which covers advanced networking infrastructure design principles and concepts. Once you pass the qualification exam, you are then eligible to schedule the practical exam. In addition, passing the CCDE written exam recertifies any other Cisco certifications you have, including the CCDA, CCNA, and CCIE.

Step Two: After passing the computerized exam, you can schedule your lab exam at a handful of Cisco offices. However, Cisco hasn’t currently announced specific locations and time slots for the practical exam because CCDE Practical exam practical exam is still in development, however it will be an eight-hour exam that will test your ability to identify, manage, and create advanced solutions for large scale networks. You must pass the lab within three years of passing the written exam in order to achieve certification.

Like the CCIE practical exam, the CCDE practical exam will be an eight-hour scenario-based exam that will “test your ability to identify, manage, and create advanced infrastructure design solutions for large-scale networks.” Having taken more than one CCIE hands-on practical exam, I have no doubt that the CCDE practical exam will be just as grueling.