20 August 2008

The Power of Cisco


Talking about networking I think is not far from talking about Cisco, even for newbies. The reason is Cisco since a long long time ago has been a leader in the industry, the people in Cisco created standards for networking which are widely accepted by the networking world.

They even take some major network vendors under their wing, some vendors like linksys and others. I like how the Cisco guys print their labels in linksys devices - Linksys, a division of Cisco.

The networking devices they offer are man, I get excited talking about this. I mean they have expensive devices, but they have things from home networking to enterprise networking. From switches to firewalls.
I'm talking about few hundreds dollars to hundred thousands dollars.

One time I took out a module and they told me it costs about 10-20,000 US$. Just for the module!!!

They do cost a lot, but in term of reliability, there's no question about the power of Cisco.
And to manage devices like Cisco's you need some really trained staffs.
Over the years Cisco has released numbers of certifications like CCNA to CCIE, CCDA, etc. even certifications for network security and VOIP.

Gaining these certifications is not easy task, even for taking the CCNA exam - entry level - you need a broad understanding about networking. Luckily Cisco has many learning partners all over the world to aid you achieving this goal. For some certifications, they don't come cheap, for taking a CCNA exam alone you need to provide about US$ 150.

The networking people holding these certifications are highly paid, I don't know the exact numbers right now, but I just got email from Cisco asking the certified people to take the survey about how much they got paid. Hoping to see the result later. From what I heard, the CCIE guys - holding the ultimate certification in networking - get paid in 5 digits number per month!!! wow, talking bout a dream job.

Well, I'm only a CCNA now, and pursuing the CCNP in near future. I hope to share my knowledge in the exam. CCNA exam is not the kind of exam where you cram yourselves in the weekend and hope to pass in next Monday. But there are things you can do to pass them of course.

I've been planning this blog to be a physical networking blog, but it's not complete without talking about Cisco. So, now and then I want to share what I know about the exam, hope you learn somethings from here.