Cisco is currently revolutionizing the role of networking professionals and software developers to drive technology innovation and accelerate business. As Cisco reinvents the future of the network, DevNet (Cisco's Developer Program) is bringing together certified software developers and networking professionals in a community, to enable unparalleled collaboration and sharing of best practices, with the aim to promote new levels of automation capabilities. In addition, Cisco is introducing an expansion of its industry-changing professional certification program to encompass both the network professional and the software developer,

Cisco Intent-Based Networking has led to a fundamental change in the role networks play in business and changes the way networks are made. The role of the network professional has changed as it moves away from time-consuming manual tasks and into the world where IT, DevOps, application and cloud developers work together. To take full advantage of the capabilities of this new network, companies must leverage software practices, software and networking skills, and an engaged community that solves technology challenges together.

"Network technology has evolved significantly in the last five years and the new network can accelerate business, catalyze new applications and bring DevOps practices to networks," said Susie Wee, SVP / CTO and founder of Cisco DevNet. “We are bringing software skills to the networking industry with the new Cisco DevNet certifications. Additionally, we are bringing software practices to networks by having a community of network builders and developers work together to solve difficult network automation problems through shared code repositories. This has allowed the industry to take full advantage of the capabilities of the new network to accelerate business. "

The network is the backbone of today's digital business, but network automation remains one of the biggest challenges for IT. Cisco's Intent-Based Networking portfolio enables secure network automation, with a new community-based developer center called the Cisco DevNet Automation Exchange. DevNet Automation Exchange introduces use case codeshare stores for network automation. The Cisco community of developers, networking professionals, partners, and customers can actively contribute the software to create the industry-leading repository of network automation code.

DevNet Automation Exchange guides teams through their journey to implement intent-based networking and network automation using a Walk-Run-Fly methodology.

Walk: Get visibility and perspectives on your networks. This enables use cases such as gathering information and telemetry from working networks and conducting audits to ensure ongoing network security.
Run: Activate the policy and test different network domains. This enables use cases, such as providing self-service network operations that comply with security policies and operational guidelines.
Fly: Proactively manage applications, users and devices with DevOps workflows. This enables use cases such as deployment of applications on information sources and continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI / CD) while configuring the network according to new application policies.
DevNet Automation Exchange draws on the vast experience of Cisco's community of networking experts and software developers, enabling them to collaborate and create automation best practices for their industries.

Applications that use a programmable network infrastructure to solve business challenges present an excellent opportunity for innovation. However, to take advantage of this possibility, partners and customers need to team up with the right software practices and networking backgrounds to optimize their networks and drive innovation.

"With networking technology changing at an unprecedented rate, infrastructure engineers and software developers must come together to build the IT team of the future," said Mike Adams, vice president of training and certification business at Cisco. “For more than 25 years, Cisco certifications have helped more than 1.7 million networking professionals around the world launch their careers, demonstrate their technology capabilities, and build a career path with the right skills to compete in the marketplace. Now, the Cisco certification program is designed so IT teams can optimize network and application performance, giving their businesses an edge in today's dynamic digital world. "

Cisco is developing its certification and training program, with a focus on educating network engineers and now software developers to optimize the new network. The new training and certification program brings professionals to the knowledge they need to thrive in this new landscape under the key principles of leadership, agility and courage. The new Cisco certifications include:

New DevNet Certifications to validate software professionals with DevNet Associate, DevNet Specialist and DevNet Professional certifications. DevNet certifications are intended for software developers and network engineers developing the software competency to develop applications and automated workflows for operational networks and infrastructure.

Expediting Cisco certifications to validate engineering professionals with CCNA and Cisco Specialist certifications, as well as CCNP and CCIE certifications in companies, centers of data, service providers, security and collaboration.

Expansion of Cisco Networking Academy to train network professionals and software developers. The CCNA certification is for entry to network professionals and the CCNA 200-901 is for entry to software developers. Graduates are able to earn CCNA® and DevNet Associate certifications to prepare them for jobs in the IT industry.

The new Cisco certifications help organizations build teams with software expertise and infrastructure expertise to enable them to take full advantage of the new network's capabilities to accelerate business. DevNet Automation Exchange offers a community-based, software-based approach to creating network automation solutions while leveraging the strength of the Cisco community of network professionals and software developers. Cisco Networking Academy increases the workforce of Cisco partners and customers by training students to develop software and networking skills that take advantage of the new network.

For full details on certification and program changes, see the Learning tab on the Cisco home page. For resources to get started with DevNet certifications, see the DevNet page .

Availability:

DevNet Automation Exchange is now available.
The new courses started rolling out in June 2019 and the exams were available in February 2020. The learning materials applicable to the new DevNet certifications are now available on the DevNet developer site.
The new certification exams were available in February 2020.
For Cisco Networking Academy, updated CCNA and CCNP courses, assessments, and tools were available in English through November 2019, additional languages were operational from the first half of 2020.