IT Certification News - IT Certification Forum

(ISC)²® now Offers Computer Based Testing for C...

Sat, 19 May 2012 20:52:57 +0000

Computer Based Testing (CBT)

(ISC)² is pleased to provide the opportunity for candidates to take computerized examinations via Computer-Based Testing (CBT) at local testing centers worldwide. This new testing method provides candidates with top-of-the-line security measures and a comfortable testing environment. Further, candidates are able to take their examination closer to home, saving both time and money.

Advantages to the Candidate

Conveniently located testing centers closer to home

Less travel to testing site means less time and money spent
Top-of-the line security measures:
- Extensive encryption
- No outside materials allowed inside testing rooms
- Strict candidate identification standards
A comfortable and consistent testing environment in all examination centers
Images on the computer screen provide maximum readability

Answers are recorded directly into the computer, therefore eliminating possible transcription errors from scanning format answer sheets.
Programs available via CBT:

Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP®)

Sun, 13 May 2012 08:26:53 +0000

Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP®)
Description:
The APICS SCP designation is the most widely recognized educational program designed for operations and supply chain management professionals around the world. By earning your APICS CSCP designation, you will be able to demonstrate your mastery of supply chain management best practices, significant commitment to your profession and career, distinguish yourself as an industry expert, and excel with your newly acquired specialized knowledge.
About the Provider:
APICS The Association for Operations Management is the global leader and premier source of the body of knowledge in supply chain and operations management, including production, inventory, materials management, purchasing, and logistics, serving nearly 33,000 members globally.
The SHRM Learning System Formats for the PHR® & SPHR® Exam
APICS’s comprehensive learning system is ideal for all types of learners. Combining print with online, multimedia and more, the learning system makes understanding, applying, practicing and reviewing something you can take in your stride.

Five books with approximately 1,000 pages of content, progress check questions at the end of each section, organized information from more than 150 references.
Pretest to determine your strengths and weaknesses, post-test to determine your progress, progress report.
E-flashcards, and an online glossary.
Practice test bank of more than 900 multiple-choice questions.

Pre-requisites:
To qualify to take the APICS CSCP exam you need to meet one of the following criteria:

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent plus two years of related business experience,
or
APICS CFPIM, APICS CPIM, APICS CIRM, or CPM designation plus two years of related business experience,
or
Five years of related business experience*

*APICS defines “related experience” as work that is directly connected to some aspect of the supply chain. This can include raw materials extraction, transportation and logistics, procurement, manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, retail, customer service, software design and support, and other areas that directly affect the supply chain. Workers who operate transportation or materials moving equipment or machines or processing equipment that require an intermediate level of training would qualify.

Exam Information :
The CSCP is a 4-hour exam with 175 multiple-choice questions.
For more information on CSCP, please visit www.apics.org

New Data Storage Certification Announced

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:23:07 +0000

By CompTIA — Jan. 23, 2012
Downers Grove, Ill., and San Francisco — Jan. 23

CompTIA and the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) introduced a new exam and certification for information technology professionals working in the evolving and expanding data storage arena.

CompTIA Storage+ Powered by SNIA combines the thought and technical leadership of the SNIA with the global certification development and management capabilities of CompTIA. The result is a credential recognized globally as the standard for validating IT professionals who manage data storage.

“Organizations of all shapes and sizes are scrambling to come up with new strategies to manage the massive volumes of data they’re generating,” said Terry Erdle, executive vice president, skills development, CompTIA. “The rise in mobile computing, the shift to cloud-enabled services, a need for heightened security and a host of other factors add to the complexity of this environment, which can challenge even the most seasoned IT storage pro. Together with SNIA we’ve developed a certification that will help individual IT workers keep pace with the changing storage landscape and empower employers to validate the skills of their IT professionals.”

CompTIA and the SNIA intend to have the new certification accredited by the International Organization for Standardization and the American National Standards Institute.

CompTIA Storage+ Powered by SNIA is relevant for a number of positions in the IT industry, including data storage administrators, system administrators, system integrators, IT architects, out-sourcers, network engineers, pre-sales consultants and cloud services data and system managers.

The certification focuses on the following areas of data storage and storage networking:

• Configuration of storage systems and networks, including archive, backup and restoration technologies.

• Business continuity, data availability and storage administration.

• Storage system integration and correlated application workloads.

• Basic troubleshooting, service levels and connectivity.

The multi-hour exam certifies that a successful candidate has the knowledge and skills required to configure basic data storage and storage networks to include archive, backup and restoration technologies. Additionally, the candidate understands the fundamentals of business continuity, application workload, capacity optimization, system integration and storage and system administration, while performing basic troubleshooting on storage-related connectivity issues and referencing documentation.

New Credential for Health Care IT Workers

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:10:59 +0000

By CompTIA — Dec. 12, 2011
Downers Grove, Ill. — Dec. 12

As health care providers expand their use of IT solutions for patient care and medical practice administration, CompTIA, the nonprofit trade association for the IT industry, has introduced a new credential for IT workers serving the health care market.

The CompTIA Healthcare IT Technician specialty certification is a vendor- and technology-neutral credential that covers the knowledge required to implement, deploy and support health care IT systems, including electronic medical record and electronic health record (EMR/EHR) systems.

CompTIA also announced that the first CompTIA Authorized Quality Curriculum approved courseware for the Healthcare IT Technician specialty certification is now available from Element K. The instructor-led training from Element K focuses on essential health care IT concepts and terminology as well as how to deploy and support EMR/EHR systems.

Technology is viewed as an important component of a medical practice by nine out of 10 doctors, dentists and health care administrators surveyed for CompTIA's third annual Healthcare IT Insights and Opportunities study, published earlier this month. Three-fourths of health care providers expect to increase their technology spending in the next 12 months compared to last year.

“Technology is clearly changing the way health care is delivered,” said Terry Erdle, executive vice president, skills certification, CompTIA. “That means the skill sets of IT professionals working in health care must change as well.

“The CompTIA Healthcare IT Technician specialty certification addresses both technical proficiency and knowledge of health care terminology and regulatory requirements. Individuals who earn this credential will be well-positioned to install, administer, service and support health care IT systems in a broad range of clinical settings.”

The CompTIA Healthcare IT Technician specialty certification closely maps to two job roles for skilled health IT specialists identified by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT as being critical in helping health care providers transition to EMR/EHR systems. These roles are implementation support specialist and technical and software support staff.

The credential is also relevant for managed IT service providers that deliver technology services and consultation to medical facilities, offices and practices as well as to health care professionals involved in health care IT liaison roles

Potential candidates should possess a basic understanding of a medical practice workflow while adhering to code of conduct policies and security best practices. The exam is intended for IT professionals who are CompTIA A+ certified or have 500 hours of hands-on IT technical experience in the lab or field, plus the knowledge and skills necessary to deploy and support health care IT systems in clinical settings. The specialty certification can also be used to validate the technical skills of health care professionals with adequate training or experience in the basics of IT hardware installation and maintenance.

Areas of health care IT covered in the exam include regulatory requirements, organizational behavior, IT operations, medical business operations and security. Exam vouchers are available in North America through the CompTIA Marketplace or directly through Pearson VUE and Prometric.

New Mobility Management Training Announced

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:00:57 +0000

By CompTIA — Nov. 7, 2011
Downers Grove, Ill. — Nov. 7

CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the IT industry, announced it is developing new IT channel training programs and resources focused on enterprise mobility management.

The association extended an invitation to all sectors of the mobile universe, including carriers, device and infrastructure manufacturers, mobile application developers, solution providers and others, to join a content advisory board. This group will help to direct the goals and objectives for CompTIA's mobile technology channel training initiatives.

“With tablets, smartphones and related devices high on the shopping lists of many organizations, the shift from ‘immobile’ networks to conducting business on the go clearly is gathering momentum,” said Kelly Ricker, vice president, events and education, CompTIA. “The move to mobility allows organizations to become more nimble and more productive, but it also creates new challenges.

“We’re committed to working with the mobile technology community to develop education and training regimens to address these issues,” Ricker continued. “Our new channel training program will focus on how to leverage the need to accommodate mobile technologies within the enterprise. The advisory group will be asked to consider the business acumen required for crafting an effective mobile offering.”

Topics the group will consider include the bundling and marketing of offerings such as mobile device management, telecom expense management, mobile security, mobile help desk, mobile application development and management.

The mobility training program will be the newest addition to CompTIA’s training curriculum for the IT channel. The current training portfolio is focused on areas such as IT security, cloud computing, unified communications, health care IT and legal IT services.

Along with the mobility training curriculum, CompTIA has also initiated a new research study on mobility, telecommuting and remote workforce trends — results are expected in the coming months. The study is designed to assess the benefits of using mobile and remote work solutions; identify challenges associated with supporting and managing a mobile workforce; and highlight potential business opportunities for IT solution providers.

EC-Council Network Security Administrator (ENSA)

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 09:54:37 +0000

EC-Council Network Security Administrator (ENSA) First Look

LIVE, ONLINE ENSA TRAINING

The objective of ENSA is to provide fundamental skills needed to analyse the internal and external security threats against a network, and to develop security policies that will protect an organization's information.

ENSA teaches students how to evaluate network and Internet security issues and design, and how to implement successful security policies and firewall strategies.

In addition, students learn how to expose systems and network vulnerabilities and defend against them.

During this online live training session, Sean Hanna will be covering the following modules from the EC-Council Network Security Administrator (ENSA) program:

1. Module X: Network Security Threats

2. Module XXVIII: Incident Response

The modules cover the required knowledge to identify network security threats and vulnerabilities, as well as the techniques employed by hackers to carry out network attacks.

Students will also learn about the issues involved in identifying network attack detection.

In addition to presenting incident management best practices, the incident response module will also highlight the importance of developing sound policies and procedures. It will give an insight into the services provided by CSIRT including managing intruder threats and incident response processes.

Session Details

Date

Aug 24, 2011 - Wednesday

There will be 2 separate sessions!

_____________________________________________________________________

Asia/Middle East/India

Singapore: 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Dubai: 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM

India: 12:30 PM - 3:30 PM

__________________________________________________________________

North America & Europe

New York: 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM EDT

Los Angeles: 8:00 AM - 11:00 AM PDT

London: 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM GMT

CompTIA Introduces Health Care IT Technician Ce...

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 09:13:08 +0000

By CompTIA — August 1, 2011
Downers Grove, Ill. — Aug. 1

A new professional credential aimed at IT professionals who install, manage and troubleshoot electronic health records systems for the nation’s health care providers is now available from CompTIA, the nonprofit trade association for the IT industry.

The CompTIA Healthcare IT Technician certificate is a vendor- and technology-neutral credential that validates the operational, regulatory and security knowledge necessary to provide hardware and software support in medical environments where electronic health record (EHR) systems are used.

“The federal government estimates that upwards of 50,000 new health care IT professionals are needed in the next few years to service the thousands of health care practices expected to implement EHR systems,” said Terry Erdle, executive vice president, skills certification, CompTIA.

“These new employment opportunities will be hybrid jobs requiring a mix of health care knowledge and high-tech expertise,” he said. “The CompTIA Healthcare IT Technician credential covers both categories and will identify professionals with the knowledge and skills required to support the implementation and maintenance of health care IT systems, including EHRs, in a broad range of clinical settings.”

The CompTIA certificate closely maps two job roles for skilled health IT specialists identified by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT as being critical in helping health care providers transition to EHRs. These job roles are implementation support specialists and technical and software support staff.

Eighty-four community colleges across the country are now offering classes that address the six health care IT job roles developed by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. Students who successfully complete the implementation support specialist and technical/software support staff courses can validate their knowledge by attaining the certificate.

CompTIA recommends that individuals interested in the health care IT certificate also hold CompTIA A+ certification, which validates foundation-level knowledge and skills for PC support, installation, preventative maintenance, networking, security and troubleshooting.

The CompTIA Healthcare IT Technician certificate exam covers the following areas:
• Regulatory requirements.
• Organizational behavior.
• IT operations.
• Medical business operations.
• Securit

CM Certification Program

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 09:32:29 +0000

Certified Manager Certification Program - Overview

CM Certification BasicsWho?
CM certification is for managers and supervisors employed in all industries worldwide.

What? CM certification validates a level of managerial competency and leadership potential by meeting eligibility requirements for education and experience and passing 3 challenging CM certification exams.

When?    Applications for the CM certification are accepted online on a continuous basis.

Where?  CM certification is offered in all geographic locations with Internet connectivity.  Classroom CM study programs are offered in limited locations only.

How?   Applicants can pursue CM certification through one of two paths:

1.  Apply  +  Test  +  Recertify
2.  Apply  +  Study (optional)  +  Test  +  Re-certify
ICPM Study Formats
Applicants have the option to engage in a comprehensive program of professional development to sharpen their management and leadership skills prior to taking the CM exams. ICPM offers 3 study formats for the CM certification.
Self Directed Study
For individuals desiring the flexibility of studying on their own, anytime and anywhere. You will receive: Hide Details

Self directed study agenda
3 custom published CM study manuals
ICPM’s Online Learning Center
Duration: 15 months
Price: $745 + shipping

Instructor Facilitated Online Study
For individuals desiring a preset schedule and instructor guided self instruction. You will receive: Hide Details

Preset study agenda
3 custom published CM study manuals
ICPM’s Online Learning Center
Learning Management System (LMS)
Webinars of live Q&A sessions
Duration: 9 months
Price: Contact tom@watson-training.com
Want more information? Download the Online CM Program fact sheet (PDF).-> http://www.icpm.biz/resource/resmgr/files/online_cm_factsheet.pdf

Classroom Study
For groups desiring a preset schedule and instructor led classroom training.You will receive: Hide Details

Preset study agenda
3 custom published CM study manuals
ICPM’s Online Learning Center
Classroom training sessions
Duration: Times and locations vary by class.
For more information and pricing browse a list of ICPM Authorized Training Partners. -> http://www.icpm.biz/?page=part_train

http://www.icpm.biz

EC-Council and (ISC)²® Collaborate to Promote I...

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 20:26:55 +0000

Breaking News

EC-Council and (ISC)²^® Collaborate to Promote IT Security Education and Best Practices

April 19, 2011, VIENNA, Va. - The International Council of Electronic Commerce Consultants (EC-Council), an industry leader and innovator in cybersecurity and e-commerce, today announced that it has entered into a collaborative agreement with (ISC)², the non-profit global leader in educating and certifying information security professionals throughout their careers and administrators of theCISSP^® .

EC-Council and (ISC)² have signed a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") that allows the organizations to collaborate to deliver programs, events and initiatives that will benefit the memberships of both organizations and the information security profession at large. The MOU outlines joint activities designed to meet the demand for properly trained IT security professionals, including speaking opportunities, reporting of continuing education credits, and conducting sponsored education events.

EC-Council and (ISC)² share a common goal of educating and certifying the professionals who will become the IT security leaders of tomorrow, and their agreement pinpoints several areas in which their mutual attention can be applied to nurturing the information security workforce.  The organizations will work together to promote a common security management message, whether it be to information security professionals, the public, legislators, or any affected government agencies.

"I am very excited and proud to align with a global organization, like ours, who is committed to the betterment of the IT security community," says Mr. Jay Bavisi, president of EC-Council.  He continues to say that "Never before has such an exciting, innovative, dynamic and visionary relationship evolved.  Through our admiration for each other as leaders in the field of IT security, we have created a strong, forward thinking, and vibrant community of specialists who can represent the concerns and needs of the professional community."

Mr. W. Hord Tipton, CISSP-ISSEP, CAP, executive director of (ISC)², adds that "A formidable force in the industry in the form of alliances such as this one is critical to the future of information security.  We are very pleased to add EC-Council to our community through such collaborative arrangements.  They are an organization growing very quickly in the security space, and we believe that together, we can have a measurable impact on the development and education of the information security workforce."

About EC-Council:

The International Council of E-Commerce Consultants (EC-Council) is a member-based organization that certifies individuals in cybersecurity and e-commerce. It is the owner and developer of 16 security certifications, including Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), Computer Hacking Forensics Investigator (CHFI) and EC-Council Certified Security Analyst (ECSA)/License Penetration Tester (LPT). Its certificate programs are offered in over 60 countries around the world.

EC-Council has trained over 80,000 individuals and certified more than 38,000 members, through more than 450 training partners globally. These certifications are recognized worldwide and have received endorsements from various government agencies including the U.S. federal government via the Montgomery GI Bill, Department of Defense via DoD 8570.01-M, National Security Agency (NSA) and the Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS). EC-Council also operates EC-Council University and the global series of Hacker Halted security conferences. The global organization is headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  More information about EC-Council is available atwww.eccouncil.org.

About (ISC)²:

(ISC)² is the largest not-for-profit membership body of certified information security professionals worldwide, with more than 77,000 members in more than 135 countries. Globally recognized as the Gold Standard, (ISC)² issues the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP^Ò) and related concentrations, as well as the Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP^Ò), Certified Authorization Professional (CAP^Ò), and Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP^Ò) credentials to qualifying candidates. (ISC)²'s certifications are among the first information technology credentials to meet the stringent requirements of ANSI/ISO/IEC Standard 17024, a global benchmark for assessing and certifying personnel. (ISC)² also offers education programs and services based on its CBK^®, a compendium of information security topics. More information is available at www.isc2.org.



Contact :

Leonard Chin

Director of Marketing

EC-Council

(505) 341 3228

leonard@eccouncil.org

EC-Council Launches Center of Advanced Security...

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 11:06:14 +0000

Breaking News

EC-Council Launches Center for Advanced Security Training (CAST) to Address the Growing Need for Advanced Information Security Knowledge

Mar 9, 2011, Albuquerque, NM - According to the report, Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44^th President, released in November 2010 by Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), it is highlighted that technical proficiency is critical to the defense of IT networks and infrastructures. And there is evidently a shortage of such personnel in the current cyber defense workforce.

The United States alone needs between 10,000 to 30,000 well-trained personnel who have specialized skills required to effectively guard its national assets. In essence, there is a huge shortage of highly technically skilled information security professionals. The problem is both of quantity, and quality, and this is not a problem just for the government space. Public and private companies are also in dire straits trying to fill such staffing needs.

The information security workforce requires not just technically proficient people to operate and support existing systems that are already deployed. There is a great demand for highly skilled professionals who can design security systems, application engineers who can write secure codes, as well as forensics experts who are well trained with highly advanced computer examination skills. Threats to SCADA and Critical Infrastructures are mounting and nations cannot ignore that these threats needs effective methods and manpower to be mitigated, should it ever occur. With the exponential growth of mobile devices adoption, and higher dependency on wireless communications, hackers are finding more ways and means to exploit these technology, and crippling organization and agencies alike.

One of the keys to address these issues will be to be adequately train and equip cyber defenders with cutting edge technological skills that are required to prevent such attacks and build a sound perimeter defense to deter these threats. A company needs to ensure that its current cyber workforce is well-trained, and as an individual, one needs to maintain technical proficiencies that are up-to-date in order to stay employable. Without a doubt, training is essential.

Recognizing this gap, EC-Council has launched the Center of Advanced Security Training (CAST), to address the deficiency in the lack of highly technically skilled information security professionals. CAST will provide advanced and specialized information security training for specific domains such as application security, penetration testing, computer forensics, social engineering, malware and botnet analysis, among others. These highly technical training programs are designed with industry practitioners to ensure that content are current and relevant, and the focus of CAST training will be its thorough extensive hands-on approach, to enable participants to combat real life scenarios.

"Certification has grown to become a necessity. It is critical for information security professionals to be equipped with the baseline knowledge and skills that any certification provides," said Jay Bavisi, president of EC-Council. He adds, "However, it is the advanced skills and technical proficiency that will make one stand out from its peers. Such skills can only be acquired through specialized and highly technical training. And these are the components that CAST aims to provide to the infosec professional community."

Some of first CAST programs that will be rolled out are Advanced Penetration Testing course by Joseph McCray, an air force veteran who has tested over 150,000 machines in his career alone, and the Digital Mobile Forensics Deep Dive, by Wayne Burke, former cyber crime investigator with the South African police department. There is also the Advanced Application Security course by Tim Pierson, the well-traveled information security consultant and trainer, who had co-authored a book on Virtualization security.

CAST training will be available at all EC-Council hosted conferences and events, and through specially selected training partners. The launch classes for CAST will be at the upcoming TakeDownCon Dallas, from May 15-17, 2011.

For more information on EC-Council Center of Advanced Security Training, please visit http://www.eccouncil.org/CAST

Or contact
Leonard Chin
Director - CAST
leonard@eccouncil.org

About TakeDownCon
TakeDownCon is a brand new information security conference series, created by EC-Council. This highly technical information security conference series differs from others, and it is very focused - the theme of this first of the series is "Taking Down Security", focusing on attack and defense vectors. World class experts including Barnaby Jack, Kanen Flowers, Joe McCray, Rodrigo Branco, Sean Arries, among others, will demonstrate and showcase how security systems can be taken down at ease. This 2 days conference, in a very casual and relaxed setting, is targeted towards information security researchers, engineers and technical professionals. http://www.takedowncon.com

The Sybex Official CWDP Study Guide Is Here

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 09:42:25 +0000

On 02.15.11, In CWNP Wi-Fi Blog, By kevinsandlin
The CWDP Study Guide, the most thorough and comprehensive book to date devoted to the proper design of enterprise Wi-Fi networks, is now available at cwnp.com for $41.00, and includes the official CWDP practice test.
The authors and editors have outdone themselves in creating this 900-page beast of a Wi-Fi design reference guide. Big, huge shout outs to…

The authors:
Shawn Jackman, Kaiser Permanente (CWNE)
Marcus Burton, CWNP (CWNE)
Matt Swartz, Cisco (CCIE R/S & Wireless, CWNE)
Tom Head, VP of Engineering, Reverb Networks
The Technical Editors:

Jennifer Huber, Sigma Solutions, Inc. (CWNE)
Jerome Henry, FastLane (CWNE, CCIE-Wireless)
And a well deserved THANK YOU to the folks at Wiley Publishing, for making this long-awaited book a reality. You can buy the book here for a little less than at Amazon.com, and you’ll get the Official Practice Test license free with your purchase. If you love reading books like this on Kindle, the CWDP Study Guide is already available in Kindle Edition. We hope you enjoy and are thoroughly challenged by this new comprehensive enterprise Wi-Fi Design book. The new CWAP Study Guide will be available soon.

With the availability of the CWDP Study Guide, we’re also rolling out a few new package deals to help you prep more for less!

CWDP Self Study Kit: CWDP study guide, practice test, exam voucher – $249
Design Bundle: CWNA + CWDP study guides and practice tests – $75
Security Bundle: CWNA + CWSP study guides and practice tests – $75
More of these types of bundles are also coming soon…as soon as the CWAP Study Guide is available to ship!

As my simple way of announcing the availability of the Sybex Official CWDP Study Guide, I am posting below the CWDP Study Guide Foreword.

FOREWORD

So you want to design an enterprise wireless network? “I can’t connect to the Wi-Fi!” is what you’re going to hear if you don’t get your Wi-Fi right. How do you permanently remove this wonderful end-user complaint from your WLAN? It starts with proper design.

I actually considered starting and ending this foreword to the Official CWDP Study Guide with just the above sentiment. That sums it up, but there is much more to it. Today’s end user just expects the wireless network to work, period. When it doesn’t, customers leave, employees complain, managers scream, and your network is always to blame…even when it isn’t.

A few years ago, before Polycom bought them, SpectraLink ran into quite a few of these complaints, only the complaints were “These phones don’t work!” and it really was the network. What did SpectraLink do? They created a services team to go in and design and build their customers’ WLANs properly, so that the SpectraLink phones running on those WLANs would work. It wasn’t the phones. It was the network. The network was not properly designed to support Wi-Fi phones. That was 5 years ago. Imagine what the network has to support today, thanks to Mr. Steve Jobs!

Whether you’re designing for a coffee shop hotspot or the SuperBowl®, your design before the network is implemented will determine hero or goat status. The fun part is, much like security, it gets noticed only when it doesn’t work. If everything works flawlessly, you’ve done your job. When you hear that soulful end user scream – “mine’s broken!” – then you know you’ve missed the mark.

So how do you design for something you can’t see? RF is a strange animal indeed, often referred to as black magic or smoke & mirrors, so you must know RF cold. That includes the RF math, behavior, and characteristics, in addition to the building(s) for which you are designing the network. That’s right: you have to know building materials! RF acts differently around cement, metal, drywall, plaster, wood, trees, fences, and yes, people. That’s part of the reason we require CWNA before you can be CWDP. You have to know RF, and you have to know RF really well before you can claim to be a WLAN designer.

And, oh, wouldn’t it be nice if every new WLAN was a sweet new green field implementation? Sorry, not going to happen. You will most likely be replacing an old 802.11b or 802.11g WLAN with an 802.11n system. And wouldn’t it be nice if it were just rip and replace? HA! Life should be so easy! If your manager or your customer suggests rip and replace, you’d do well to suggest that they find someone else to do this job. That should get someone’s attention. Then it’s your job to explain, for example, how differently an 802.11g network and an 802.11n network behave, not only in that particular environment, but in any environment.
With a/b/g, multipath and interference were the bane of your existence. Now, multipath is good for 802.11n Wi-Fi. That means a complete change in the way you design the WLAN for any environment.

Ah, but we don’t design only for the environment, do we? No, no we don’t. We must design for the specific applications, and the type(s) of and number of devices that will utilize the WLAN, and the specific industry, and the number of end users…the list goes on and on. And then there’s VoWiFi and Video. How many people have you seen watching (fill in the blank) on YouTube on the wireless LAN? Your WLAN has to support that kind of bandwidth, lest you hear the cry of the end-user: “mine’s broken!”

Reliable enterprise Wi-Fi starts with the design of the wireless network. So where do you start to end up with a great design? You guessed it: your old friend the RF site survey. Missed him, didn’t you? What’s wrong? Haven’t climbed enough towers, scaled enough ceilings, pushed enough carts, dropped enough handhelds, or walked enough miles lately? It’s time to go back to where you started, and improve your game not just a little, but a lot. When you did your first 50 RF site surveys, were you thinking about the design of the network, or were you thinking about getting the survey done as quickly and with as little pain as possible?

Now return to the RF site survey with the – no, with your – network design in mind. This time, you’re doing the survey for the purpose of designing a reliable, scalable, secure, mission-critical enterprise wireless LAN. It’s not just Internet access anymore; it is the new access layer technology for the 21st century.

You want to design my wireless network? Start with this book, and see where it takes you.

Kevin Sandlin
Co-Founder & CEO
CWNP Inc.

Breaking News: EC-Council- Experience Seven

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 07:51:37 +0000

Breaking News

Heard of the Magnificent Seven?
No, we are not talking of the Seven Wonders of the World, but the one that will redefine the presentation and delivery mechanism followed within the Certification and Training industry.

We take pride in presenting the Seventh Edition of the much-awaited release of the Certified Ethical Hacker certification program.

Only 375 selected professionals around the world will get a chance to attend the much-anticipated Launch Class of CEH v7, to be held simultaneously at 25 locations around the globe. Specialist Instructors Chosen by EC-Council will deliver the launch class.

Guess what, we plan to offer 125 seats @ the Launch Class ABSOLUTELY FREE!

YES, YOU HEARD IT RIGHT! ABSOLUTELY FREE

* NO UNUSUAL CONDITIONS APPLY

All you need is to click here(https://eccouncil.org/cehv7.aspx) and register at the link mentioned within the page.

Remember ONLY the TOP 125 Professionals who stand out from the applications that we are receiving around the World will get a chance to Win this ONCE in a LIFETIME Opportunity!

This offer is open for all professionals; even those who have been certified as CEH in earlier versions (1-6) are eligible to apply.

DO NOT MISS IT.

We are looking for the BEST MINDS in IT Security to attend the LAUNCH program.

You could be the ONE for SURE! TRY YOUR LUCK!

Be SEVEN Certified!

Contact:
Sharon Sunita
Partner Development Manager
sharon.sunita@eccouncil.org
EC-Council