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

As a preface to this post, our lawyer suggested I point out that the views expressed in my blog posts represent my own opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views or official standing of IPexpert as a company or of our staff, partners or others. :)  With that said…

Last week, Cisco officially threw their hat in the CCIE lab training ring with the announcement of their “360 Learning Program.” This announcement came as no surprise to the leading CCIE-focused training companies.

Back in early 2007, Cisco began approaching established and successful (and some not-so-successful) CCIE training vendors on the market. They cast the net far and wide, asking known vendors around the globe to bid for the “opportunity” to have their courseware purchased then be re-branded as Cisco’s own curriculum. While that may be the ideal model for municipalities seeking a contractor to mow the lawn in city-owned parks, I was gravely concerned by what the apparent determining factors would be when selecting the “winner” that would advance a CCIE training initiative.

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Tags: 360, CCIE, Cisco, net master class, netmasterclass, nmc, r&s, routing, wayne