IPexpert Wants to Help You!

Over the past several months, CCIE candidates have been making public mention (on various lists, forums, etc) that they have purchased CCIE Voice training from Internetwork Expert, but have not received what they paid for. To be honest, we have been happy to have a good number of them give up and come to IPexpert and we have remained quiet about it.

Yesterday, some of those being kept on the hook began speaking out loudly on the Group Study email list. In response, Anthony acknowledged the continued delays and gave assurance of full refunds…

from    Anthony Sequeira <asequeira@internetworkexpert.com>
reply-to    Anthony Sequeira <asequeira@internetworkexpert.com>
to    ccie voice <danmccie@gmail.com>
cc    ccielab@groupstudy.com
date    Thu, Jan 8, 2009 at 11:08 PM
subject    Re: Internetwork Expert – Worst Voice CCIE Vendor

Please contact our Customer Service or Sales department with your information and I am sure they will provide you with a full refund. So sorry about the delays. I am sure they are a result of our desire to create some of the best materials available. We always strive to do that.

Anthony J. Sequeira, CCIE #15626, CCSI #23251
Senior CCIE Instructor

I will not be a hypocrite here; I acknowledge that IPexpert has slipped on release dates ourselves in the past. I second Anthony’s assertion that some slippage is permissible, when necessary for the assurance of the best-possible product. However, there comes a time when the customer needs to be served and sometimes that means letting them move on. One of the guys in the ongoing Group Study thread questioned “why a product which was announced in October of 2007 still hasn’t been completely released.”

For a CCIE Voice candidate that is resigned to the idea of waiting for the new blueprint change, perhaps they don’t mind more waiting for the IE products they purchased. However, the guys that are really hurt are the ones hoping to pass on the CURRENT blueprint. It’s a shame that their needs have not been held with the highest priority. :(

An offer from IPexpert…

Read Full Entry »

Tags: ie, internetwork expert, Products, Voice, waiting

Well, it appears that there’s a little more movement going on within the Cisco learning partner program and amongst the 360 program learning partner participants.  Just a few weeks ago Cisco announced that they would be launching their 360 CCIE program with an estimated price that approached $20,000 USD.  Shortly after, Netmaster Class updated their website and stated that they were offering Cisco’s 360 program (first to market) at a price-point that seemed to come in significantly lower than $20,000 (which, rumor has it, has caused some major problems amongst learning partners that are now competing in this offering as well as a few of their students that don’t approve of their sales tactics!).  Today – Global Knowledge announced that they were the first CLSP to offer this 360 program worldwide – however, if you read this post from Fast Lane’s website you will see that they (Fast Lane is also a CLSP) announced something similar to this about 3 weeks ago. (Fast Lane announced that they were offering the 360 program here in the U.S., but no mention of this program being available at any of their international locations.)  Also, there doesn’t seem to be any published pricing on the CLSP (Fast Lane or GK’s) websites.  Lastly, Cisco had announced that more information would be coming November 1st – to include pricing and learning partners that will offer this program.  Wouldn’t you know it – November 1st has come and gone and Cisco hasn’t updated their website with this information (Not a surprise to us companies that have worked with Cisco’s learning partner team!).  Hopefully this isn’t a sign of what’s to come as it relates to updates, support and Cisco’s attentiveness (or lack of) as it relates to this “first of its kind blended learning program”.  Does this appear to be unorganized, pre-announced and / or overpriced?….What are your thoughts – we’d like to hear them!  Also, I’m interested in hearing your thoughts pertaining to Cisco’s learning management system.  We considered implementing a PPP “Personal Preparation Path” solution that would allow our students to enter in their lab date (goal) and then have a custom study plan created – all of this being trackable online within their IPexpert login / locker.  Is this something you would like to see or have available?

As always, thanks for reading and happy studying! – Wayne

Tags: 360 Program, CCIE 360, Fastlane, GlobalKnowledge, ie, IPexpert CCIE Lab training, netmasterclass

Yesterday, Internetwork Expert put on a show that was promoted heavily as a “major corporate announcement.” Yes, I am serious, that’s what they called it. What a show it was!

Fascinated, I watched the big announcements again carefully and thought I’d share some of my own, personal thoughts about the way I personally perceived the news…

ANNOUNCEMENT #1: 10 months ago, IE decided NOT to take part in Cisco’s 360 program

The main theme of their webcast/commercial was about how they DIDN’T join Cisco’s CLP (Cisco Learning Partner) program and are not going to sell the 360 training; a decision they apparently made 10 months ago. Since when does deciding NOT to do something 10 months ago qualify as news, worthy of such hype? Maybe next week we can learn how Brian decided NOT to go skydiving or some other “almost/maybe could have, but decided not to” kind of event.

There were some questionable statements made throughout the presentation… starting with the FIRST slide!

Read Full Entry »

Tags: 360, brian, Cisco, clp, ie, internetwork expert, partner