DESGN and ARCH exams available December 2010(update 640-864,642-874)

Cisco is updating its certifications for associate- and professional-level network designers to reflect changes in the job role of enterprise network designers and strengthen coverage of data center and virtualization.

CCDA DESGN Exam and Course Update

The Cisco CCDA® course, Designing Cisco Internetwork Solutions (DESGN), will be updated to v2.1 with new material on virtualization and fewer details on wireless and voice infrastructures, which are becoming the domain of specialists. The DESGN v2.1 course is expected to be available November 17, 2010. The existing DESGN v2.0 course will be retired on February 11, 2011.

A new DESGN exam, 640-864, is expected to be available on December 16, 2010. Candidates should prepare for the new exam, which is aligned to the certification changes described above, using the DESGN v2.1 exam topics that were posted to the Cisco Learning Network in September 2010. The current DESGN 640-863 exam will be available for candidates until April 30, 2011, after which the exam will be retired.

As of this posting (November 17, 2010), Cisco Press is planning to release an updated version of the CCDA Certification Guide to align to the updated requirements.  A Rough Cut should be available from Cisco Press in early December and the final publication is expected to be released on April 18, 2011.  An updated DESGN Foundation Learning Guide is also planned.  A Rough Cut should be available in early February and the completed publication is expected on July 1, 2011.

CCDP ARCH Exam and Course Update

The Cisco CCDP® course, Designing Cisco Network Service Architecture (ARCH), will be updated to v2.1 with new material on data centers and virtualization, evaluation of service providers, and design of IPS and IDS security solutions. The ARCH v2.1 course is expected to be available November 24, 2010. The existing ARCH v2.0 course will be retired on February 11, 2011.

A new ARCH exam, 642-874, is expected to be available on December 23, 2010. Candidates should prepare for the new exam, which is aligned to the certification changes described above, using the ARCH v2.1 exam topics that were posted to the Cisco Learning Network in September 2010. The current ARCH 642-873 exam will be available for candidates until May 7, 2011, after which the exam will be retired.

As of this posting (November 17, 2010), Cisco Press is planning to release an updated version of the ARCH Foundation Learning Guide.  A Rough Cut should be available in early February and the completed publication is expected in mid July 2011.  No other updated publications are planned at this time.