Enjoy another free CCIE R&S V5 Lab Training vLecture on EIGRP Named Mode. Be sure to check out our social communities (www.ipexpert.com/communities) for free videos (posted weekly), and free Online-HD-ILT training vLectures.

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Join us in congratulating the following CCIE on his great achievement;

• Donald Lewis CCIE#42677 (Routing & Switching)

Donald Lewis CCIE#42677
I would like to thank Marko for all his hard work and dedication! I personally know four CCIE’s that have all used iPexpert in preparation for the CCIE lab. If you are a candidate preparing for the CCIE lab or want to become a better engineer, iPexpert is the way to go.

iPexpert is proud to boast the industry’s most complete and updated self-study portfolio for the CCIE Routing & Switching Lab, CCIE Voice / Collaboration Lab, CCIE Security Lab, CCIE Data Center Lab, and CCIE Wireless Lab exams. Have you also used iPexpert or Proctor Labs to help you pass the CCIE lab exam? If so, we want to hear your story! Please email us at success@ipexpert.com

Join us in congratulating the following CCIEs on their great achievement;

• Bob Welch CCIE #42924 (Routing & Switching)
• Janesh Abeydeera CCIE #42844 (Wireless)

iPexpert is proud to boast the industry’s most complete and updated self-study portfolio for the CCIE Routing & Switching Lab, CCIE Voice / Collaboration Lab, CCIE Security Lab, CCIE Data Center Lab, and CCIE Wireless Lab exams. Have you also used iPexpert or Proctor Labs to help you pass the CCIE lab exam? If so, we want to hear your story! Please email us at success@ipexpert.com

Join us in congratulating the following CCIE on his great achievement;

• Abhishek Dani CCIE #39815 (Routing & Switching)

iPexpert is proud to boast the industry’s most complete and updated self-study portfolio for the CCIE Routing & Switching Lab, CCIE Collaboration Lab, CCIE Security Lab, CCIE Data Center Lab, and CCIE Wireless Lab exams. Have you also used iPexpert or Proctor Labs to help you pass the CCIE lab exam? If so, we want to hear your story! Please email us at success@ipexpert.com

Within the month of April, we’ll be adding quite a few more dates for all CCIE tracks (minus SP), as well as some CCNP and CCNA vLecture dates. Below you’ll find the current scheduled vLectures. To register, please go to this URL.

CCIE Routing and Switching, Version 5

• CCIE R&S V5: 4/21 @ 1:00 PM EST – IPv6 First-Hop Security
• CCIE R&S V5: 4/28 @ 1:00 PM EST – DMVPN for CCIE R&S
• CCIE R&S V5: 5/26 @ 1:00 PM EST – IOS Embedded Troubleshooting Tools for CCIE R&S

CCIE Collaboration

• CCIE Collaboration: 4/21 Introduction to Cisco Unified Contact Center Express (UCCX) – UCCX Scripts Customization
• CCIE Collaboration: 4/28 Understanding & Troubleshooting Cisco Unified IM Presence – Cisco Jabber
• CCIE Collaboration: 5/14 Cisco IOS Media Resources
• CCIE Collaboration: 5/26 Security in Cisco Collaboration Solutions (Default Security Features & Toll Fraud)

CCIE Data Center

• CCNP Data Center 4/23 @9 AM EST – Virtual Device Contexts and their management.
• CCNP Data Center 5/7 @9 AM EST – VSAN, VSAN Isolation and IVR

CCIE Wireless

• 4/21 @ 10 CST- H-REAP APs
• 5/27 @ 10 CST- ACS 5.2 basics
• 6/9 @ 10 CST- WDS on autonomous APs

Security

• CCNA / CCNP Security 4/30 @9 AM EST – Basic ASA Configuration
• CCNA / CCNP Security 5/7 @ 9 AM EST – Reflexive & Dynamic ACLs

iPexpert’s 2014 Scholarship Winners – April 2014

In December 2013, we announced our 2014 Scholarship Program / CCIE Lab Training Giveaway. For the entire year of 2014, we will be giving away 60 free Online-HD-ILT Bootcamp seats, and CCIE Lab Self-Study Training Bundles spanning across every CCIE track we teach (R&S, Collaboration, Data Center, Wireless and Security).

As a Recap, Here’s What We’re Giving Away:

• 1 Online-HD-ILT seat given away for each track every month (5 Bootcamp winners announced monthly)
• 1 Lab Essentials HD VOD and Workbook(s) Bundle given away for each track every month (5 self-study winners announced monthly)

How to Enter:

• Must follow @iPexpert on Twitter before entering.
• To win an Online-HD-ILT Bootcamp seat, you must Tweet: “I want to win a free Online-HD-ILT seat from @iPexpert for the CCIE <XXXXXXX> track, where <XXXXXXX> is the name of the track you are preparing for. *Note, followers attempting to win for multiple tracks will not be considered.
• To win a Lab Essentials HD VOD and Workbook Bundle, you must Tweet: “I want to win a free Lab Essentials HD VOD and Workbook(s) Bundle from @iPexpert for the CCIE <XXXXXXX> track, where <XXXXXXX> is the name of the track you are preparing for.
• Must include @iPexpert in tweet.
• Multiple entries are encouraged, however – we’d like to ask for a max of 5 mentions per day. For every follower you have who follows @iPexpert and retweets, that also counts as another entry.
• Winners will be selected via a random drawing method, with each tweet / retweet accounting for an additional entry – which will increase your odds of winning.

General:

• Winners will be posted on our blog the first of every month. In the case of the 1st being on a holiday or weekend, the winners will be posted the following business day or following Monday.
• You must claim your prize within 30 days by emailing your twitter account name, full legal name, address, and contact details to sales@ipexpert.com.
• Prizes must be used within 18 months.
• Prizes cannot be transferred to another person or sold.

The April 2014 winners of a free 5-Day Online-HD-ILT Bootcamp seat:

• R&S: @RehanQuayyum88
• Collaboration: @rperezdea
• Data Center: @debjuanca
• Wireless: @basheerhr
• Security: @stevenvj

The April 2014 winners of a free Lab Essentials HD VOD and Workbook(s) Bundle:

• R&S: @rcsoar4fun
• Collaboration: @coon_jason
• Data Center: @jasperarevalo
• Wireless: @dluechtefeld
• Security: @githureism

Thank you for entering, and congratulations to our winners. Remember, there are 8 months left, so if you didn’t win this month, keep trying!

Join us in congratulating the following CCIEs on their great achievement;

• Sharon Saadon CCIE #43074 (Data Center)
• Sean Hyland CCIE #43113 (Data Center)
• Heine Melo CCIE #42627 (Data Center)

Sean’s Testimonial: “I would like to thank iPexpert and their excellent boot camp for helping me pass my CCIE DC lab. I had previously studied with a “different vendor” and had failed in two previous attempts at the lab. The iPexpert boot camp provided invaluable knowledge and strategy critical to passing the lab. The combined instruction from Terry and Laurent gave two different perspectives to the exam but the tandem teaching was exactly what I needed to help get me the extra knowledge needed to pass the lab.”

iPexpert is proud to boast the industry’s most complete and updated self-study portfolio for the CCIE Routing & Switching Lab, CCIE Collaboration Lab, CCIE Security Lab, CCIE Data Center Lab, and CCIE Wireless Lab exams. Have you also used iPexpert or Proctor Labs to help you pass the CCIE lab exam? If so, we want to hear your story! Please email us at success@ipexpert.com

Have you joined our “focused” CCIE study groups on Facebook yet? If you’re looking for “freebies”, mentoring, beta testing opportunities and mentoring – be sure to join these groups and recommend them to your colleagues.

• CCIE R&S V5
• CCIE Data Center (Group 1) / CCIE Data Center (Group 2)
• CCIE Collaboration
• CCIE Wireless
• CCIE Security

Join us in congratulating the following CCIEs on their great achievement;

• Jacob Snyder CCIE #43153 (Wireless)
• Nizami Mammadov CCIE 4x #22247 (Data Center)

iPexpert is proud to boast the industry’s most complete and updated self-study portfolio for the CCIE Routing & Switching Lab, CCIE Collaboration Lab, CCIE Security Lab, CCIE Data Center Lab, and CCIE Wireless Lab exams. Have you also used iPexpert or Proctor Labs to help you pass the CCIE lab exam? If so, we want to hear your story! Please email us at success@ipexpert.com

Join us in congratulating the following CCIE on his great achievement;

• Bashir Rabbani CCIE #43294 (Wireless)

Have you also used iPexpert or Proctor Labs to help you pass the CCIE lab exam? If so, we want to hear your story! Please email us at success@ipexpert.com

I was taking a peek at the available wireless CCIE lab seats this morning and saw that RTP is offering a wireless lab seat every week day starting in June.  So most weeks have 3 available seats ready to reserve (Tuesdays/Thursdays have been booked for months now).

That’s definitely going to be a big help to ease the 5-6 month wait period in the US.  But this also opens the door to doing the same thing in other locations.  RTP now, Brussels and San Jose soon?  With any luck we will see one or more other sites follow suit.

Greetings iPexpert Community!

My name is Andy Vassar and I am the newest addition to the team here at iPexpert. I am going to be focusing on the development and delivery of all the CCIE Collaboration content including the CCIE written bootcamp (and VOD), iPexpert’s CCIE Collaboration workbooks, and of course their CCIE Collaboration lab bootcamps – both the Online-HD-ILT version and the live classes in Chicago. Lastly, I’m currently overseeing the roll out of our new Collaboration racks, and putting together a vLectures schedule – which I’ll be posting within the next week or two. I’m excited to get rolling here, and I look forward to helping you achieve your CCIE Collaboration “digits”!

A little bit about myself to kick things off…I have spent about 10 years in the IT industry working with various different pieces of technology, from web development and database design to UC design, implementation, optimization, and everything in between. I just recently was employed at Cisco as an NCE for the last 6 years, where I was able to achieve both my CCIE in Routing & Switching in 2008 and Voice in 2010, which has since been updated to the CCIE Collaboration certification. I have a passion for all things technology and enjoy learning new things as often as I can. I also enjoy teaching others and explaining complex topics—especially when it comes to the CCIE!

So now that you know a little about me, let’s get down to business. The reason why you clicked on this page in the first place was to get some great information about the new CCIE Collaboration exam—and I intend to provide it.

As everyone is well aware, Cisco decided to retire the CCIE Voice (as of February 14, 2014) instead of continuing to update the exam, which has made way for the next generation CCIE exam called the CCIE Collaboration. This now includes “cutting edge” widely deployed technologies such as video, presence, IM, and of course, voice. So what’s the main point here? We’re not just talking about voice anymore. I believe that is why the exam was updated in the first place; to reflect the fundamental shift in technology being used in the industry today, which is why I’m a great fit to assist you in your lab preparation – I’ve been designing, installing, and teaching these latest “Collaboration technologies” for the past 5 years.

For those of you that have been preparing for the CCIE Voice exam, but were not able to get certified before the deadline, don’t panic. Nearly all of your hard work and studying can still be salvaged. Although many of these “newer” technologies are going to be tested heavily during the exam, at this point, a large portion of the CCIE Collaboration certification still focuses on the concepts introduced within the CCIE Voice blueprint. With that said, let’s have a look at the topic turnover as described by Cisco’s website.

As you can see from the above table, some of the “unnecessary” topics were removed, while a plethora of new material was added to the written test. It doesn’t really look like that long of a list, but when you start diving into each topic, you soon realize that each contains several layers of information that can take a while to explore.

As for the lab exam topics, it’s hard to believe, but Cisco has finally waved goodbye to the Gatekeeper. I remember a time during my initial CCIE Voice prep, when that device was the bane of my existence! Don’t forget everything yet, though! It is still “testable” on the written exam. The added topics, once again, pack a lot of punch. ILS/URI, SAF/CCD, and Cisco Jabber are all unfamiliar technologies for many.

If you’ll look carefully on the above table, you’ll begin to notice that not really that much has changed here. Sure, we’re losing and adding quite a bit of equipment, but nothing new when it comes to type. We are replacing like for like (albeit updated) in every category. The 9971 and the Jabber client are the only blatant additions. However, there are some specific changes with the PVDM3s especially that will be addressed within iPexpert’s suite of products.

Now that we’ve explored what has changed, let’s have a look at the weight that will be given to each section in the written and lab exams.

As you can see, not much is different between the written and lab exams. The only thing that is really missing from the lab portion is the “Telephony Standards and Protocols” section, which is inherently included in the exam anyway, by virtue of the technology that is being tested in the first place. Digging into the numbers a bit, you’ll find that CUCM and Cisco IOS make up a large chunk (45% of the written exam and 65% of the lab exam). So logically speaking, if you know those two topics, you are in pretty decent shape on each exam. However, you still need a score of 80 on the lab to pass and you can’t get that while knowing only two areas. The key point that I’m making here is that it is incredibly important to have core knowledge, but equally important to be able to implement and troubleshoot auxiliary components like UCCX. You never know when you’re lack of knowledge in one area can unintentionally affect another area of the exam!

Now that you have the updated blueprint fresh in your mind, you’re probably wondering how iPexpert help you conquer this beast that is the CCIE Collaboration certification. I’m glad that you asked, because that’s why we’re here!

Our first product that will give you all the foundational knowledge necessary for the CCIE Collaboration is our Volume 1 Technology Focused Workbook. Going through this workbook and really cutting your teeth on the technology is what will help you lay the proper groundwork for your studies. We’ll dig deep into the technology to expose and eradicate any weaknesses. Since this is a new exam, the content for this workbook is currently under development. It’s a complete rewrite, and not just a partial update. I expect to release some updates over the next several weeks, and will continue to release additional chapters are they’re finished. If you’re a Voice customer, you’ll be getting updates free of charge. If you haven’t purchased yet – you may want to consider doing so quickly. Once the material starts to roll out, these incredible discounts being offered won’t be around, so if you’re looking to save some dollars – get in now.

The Volume 2 Mock Lab Workbook will put those newly acquired skills to the test by presenting you with several mock-lab scenarios that will test both your endurance and technological acumen. This is a great way to practice your overall lab strategy in addition to the configuration-based challenges. As with Volume 1, this content is currently under development and will be available in the June time frame.

Of course, in order to actually work through both of the workbooks, you will need a state-of-the-art CCIE Collaboration rack on which to practice. We offer exactly that—brand new equipment and software as well as an intuitive control interface that will allow you to load new mock labs and technology-based labs with ease. The focus here is on you the student, and helping you to get down to business without worrying about the painful set up process. The racks are now in the process of being beta tested along with the control interface. The first of the racks should be available in a few weeks. You’re going to love some of the things we’re doing with our rack rental interface! ;-)

The 5-Day CCIE Collaboration lab bootcamp as well as the One Week Lab Experience will serve to further cement your knowledge in these technologies. As your instructor, I will lead you through the most complex and challenging parts of the blueprint to help you make sense of everything. This is the perfect time to bring those burning questions about the exam with you so everyone as a group can benefit from the discussion. These bootcamps are very fast-paced, learning intensive programs designed specifically to take you to the next level in your CCIE preparation. My teaching style is to really get into the guts of the technology, and perform a lot of hands-on examples and demonstrations. We’ll configure, break and then reconfigure almost everything that’s listed on the blueprint – and make sure you leave with an incredible level of understanding. I will be leading all of iPexpert’s Collaboration bootcamps at our brand new facility at the Purdue Technology Center just outside of Chicago.

I’ll also be conducting free vLectures, using our amazing Online-HD-ILT training solution, on various topics within the CCIE Collaboration blueprint. These will be short sessions focused on a specific area and will be designed to teach complex topics in a short amount of time. Topic requests are always welcomed! Wayne has asked me to put together a list of the first 6 to 8 vLectures, so I expect him to be posting an updated vLecture list within the next few days.

Within the next 2 to 4 weeks, we will be making several major announcements here at iPexpert. We’ll be announcing our new R&S and Data Center instructors, as well as a new product suite and additional services. We’re excited about the change in direction here, and we’re very confident you will be too!

So, in closing, I want you to all know that I’m dedicated to helping you achieve this certification any way I can. I remember what it was like to go through the intense preparation; long days, long nights, no sleep, extreme focus, etc. If you don’t have the proper support during those times, the frustration can become unbearable. However, with the quality resources offered by iPexpert and the dedicated support that you will receive, I believe that those frustrations will be largely minimized throughout the course of your studies. Good luck in your preparation and thanks for reading and for watching!

A short while ago, Cisco talked about some upcoming policy changes for the CCIE that we wanted to share with you all.  It hasn’t been published on their normal CCIE policy pages yet.  But I will give you the important details in this post.  If you want to see the presentation that talks about these changes, you can find that here.  The presentation also covers some other CCIE topics as well.  So it may be worth a view for the other included information.

With one exception (noted below), these changes should take effect on August 1.  All of the images are taken from the presentation linked above.

Policy change #1- Written exam retakes

Current policy allows students to retake the written exam unlimited times with a 5 day minimum wait period between attempts.  The new policy drastically changes this.  Starting August 1, there is a 15 day wait period between attempts and a maximum number of attempts of 4 per year.

The wait period probably isn’t a big deal.  But the 4 attempts per year could be an issue to some people.  So if you have the strategy of taking the test early just to see what it’s like, you may want to alter that.  Most of us usually won’t need more than 4 attempts to pass this exam.  But it’s good to keep this limitation in mind as you plan your certification process.

Policy change #2- Lab exam retakes

Current policy is a 30 day wait time in between attempts.  The new policy starting August 1 is that there is a progressive wait time as you take more and more attempts.  As you can see in the chart below, it starts out with a 30 day wait after your first failure.  After the 2^nd through 4^th failures, it’s a 90 day wait.  After that, it’s a 180 day wait.

So let’s say you are starting fresh on your first attempt on January 1, 2015.  You can get 5 attempts in your first year.  After that, it’s 2 attempts per year.  For ease of illustration, I fudged the real numbers and just rounded off to the nearest beginning of a month.

Attempt 1- January 1, 2015
Attempt 2- February 1, 2015
Attempt 3- May 1, 2015
Attempt 4- August 1, 2015
Attempt 5- November 1, 2015
Attempt 6- May 1, 2016
Attempt 7- November 1, 2016

Of course, this assumes you can even schedule your subsequent attempts when you want.  For some tracks, bookings go out quite a ways so this might not even be possible.

Again, most of us don’t need more than 5 attempts.  So it would be rare to run into the 180 wait period.  But 3-5 attempts isn’t rare.  So a fair number of people will hit the 90 day wait period.

Policy change #3- Lab rescoring

There has been a long standing reread policy for R&S and SP tracks where you can pay money to have your configs loaded up onto a rack and have the entire lab rescored.

Now a Review process is being introduced on August 1 that allows another proctor to view your answers and debug data and a rescore can be completed.  The way that I understand what they said, this is different in that they don’t reload your entire configs.  But instead they look at the output of the original verifications and proctor notes to do the rescore.

The nice part about the new review process is that it is available across all tracks.  The reason that it’s not a full config reload is probably because that is not possible across most tracks.  For instance, I know on Wireless and Collaboration there are many server configs.  So in order to load up a student lab, server snapshots would have to be taken.  Or in the wireless lab, there is a 7925 phone that typically would need manual configurations, and those could not really be saved for future re-scoring.

I don’t know what the odds of a review changing your score will be.  But I guess it’s the best that they can do for these other tracks where a full config reload isn’t feasible.

Policy change #4- Lab exam rescheduling

This is the one change that is currently live right now.  Previously, you could only change your lab dates if you hadn’t paid yet.  You get charged at the 90 day mark.  So if there are fewer than 90 days until your lab date, you were stuck with whatever date you scheduled.  No refunds and no date changes were possible.

With the new policy, you can change your lab date for a fee.  I don’t recall them mentioning what the fee was.  But it sounded like it might be different if you were more or less than 45 days out.  That is good news for those of us who have things change in those last 90 days.

Policy change #5- CCIE Emeritus exception

I haven’t even gotten close to my 10 year mark yet.  But evidently the previous policy required that you be an active CCIE at your 10 year mark to convert over to the Emeritus status.  Now there is an alternate way for those people who are in an inactive status.  They just need to get a business transformation certification and then they can convert their inactive CCIE to the Emeritus status.

So this is helpful to those looking to move to the Emeritus status.  Usually they aren’t looking to pass a technical exam like the CCIE written if they are interested in the Emeritus program.  The business transformation certificates may be more applicable to their current roles.

Thoughts about the policy changes

I think the changes are good overall.  The last three changes actually increase our freedom and flexibility.  The written and lab retake policies are the ones that make things more restrictive.  But I don’t think they will have a significant impact to the majority of CCIE hopefuls.   Very few people need more than 4 attempts at the written or 5 attempts for the lab.  The longer wait periods will slow some people down.  But they should have a positive impact on the program overall.

Definitely check out the video if you have some time.  If you jump to the 34:35 timestamp, they start talking about why these policies are being implemented and then go over each of these policies.  This part of the video spans about 11 minutes.

Join us in congratulating the following CCIEs on their great achievement;

• Lau Chun Yin CCIE #36089 (Routing & Switching)
• Joseph Lipsey CCIE #42683 (Routing & Switching)

Have you also used iPexpert or Proctor Labs to help you pass the CCIE lab exam? If so, we want to hear your story! Please email us at success@ipexpert.com

Have you joined our focused CCIE study groups on Facebook yet? If you’re looking for freebies, mentoring, and beta testing opportunities – be sure to join these groups and recommend them to your colleagues.

• CCIE R&S V5
• CCIE Data Center
• CCIE Collaboration
• CCIE Wireless
• CCIE Security

As most of you know, in December 2013, we announced our 2014 Scholarship Program / CCIE Lab Training Giveaway. For the entire year of 2014, we will be giving away 60 free Online-HD-ILT Bootcamp seats, and CCIE Lab Self-Study Training Bundles spanning across every CCIE track we teach (R&S, Collaboration, Data Center, Wireless and Security).

As a Recap, Here’s What We’re Giving Away:

• 1 Online-HD-ILT seat given away for each track every month (5 Bootcamp winners announced monthly)
• 1 Lab Essentials HD VOD and Workbook(s) Bundle given away for each track every month (5 self-study winners announced monthly)

How to Enter:

• Must follow @iPexpert on Twitter before entering.
• To win an Online-HD-ILT Bootcamp seat, you must Tweet: “I want to win a free Online-HD-ILT seat from @iPexpert for the CCIE <XXXXXXX> track, where <XXXXXXX> is the name of the track you are preparing for. *Note, followers attempting to win for multiple tracks will not be considered.
• To win a Lab Essentials HD VOD and Workbook Bundle, you must Tweet: “I want to win a free Lab Essentials HD VOD and Workbook(s) Bundle from @iPexpert for the CCIE <XXXXXXX> track, where <XXXXXXX> is the name of the track you are preparing for.
• Must include @iPexpert in tweet.
• Multiple entries are encouraged, however – we’d like to ask for a max of 5 mentions per day. For every follower you have who follows @iPexpert and retweets, that also counts as another entry.
• Winners will be selected via a random drawing method, with each tweet / retweet accounting for an additional entry – which will increase your odds of winning.

General:

• Winners will be posted on our blog the first of every month. In the case of the 1st being on a holiday or weekend, the winners will be posted the following business day or following Monday.
• You must claim your prize within 30 days by emailing your twitter account name, full legal name, address, and contact details to sales@ipexpert.com.
• Prizes must be used within 18 months.
• Prizes cannot be transferred to another person or sold.

The May 2014 winners of a free 5-Day Online-HD-ILT Bootcamp seat:

• R&S: @treasure1387
• Collaboration: @kdatrio
• Data Center: @aarongreene1
• Wireless: @JayElOpia
• Security: @TheBestBradlee

The May 2014 winners of a free Lab Essentials HD VOD and Workbook(s) Bundle:

• R&S: @packetTrace
• Collaboration: @kurthien
• Data Center: @minhdl
• Wireless: @ccie2014wireles
• Security: @basitmahmood2

Thanks for entering, and congratulations to our winners! If you didn’t win this month, keep trying!

Now’s your time to be heard!

Over the past few months, I’ve heard a lot of you ask for certain features, changes and technologies within the training market we service. I’ve heard (and am going to honor) – about DRM…(we are removing it at the end of this month).

We’ve heard about specific things you’d like to see in our products, from our instructors, from our training advisors, from my support staff – and even different services that you all feel will help your preparation and improve your chances at success.

I’d like to hear more. I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts, concerns and “wants”.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been asked by a few “who will be teaching iPexpert’s CCIE R&S, Collaboration and Data Center classes?” Well, I’m happy to announce our new team of “Next Generation” instructors. When I mapped out our “Next Generation” strategy, which we will be unveiling in early June, I decided to look for particular types of instructors who would complement the overall company strategy. Over 13 years in business, I’ve realized what works and what doesn’t. When we unveil what “iPexpert Next Generation” really is and means (June) – it will all make sense to you!

One of the things I wanted to accomplish, was to build a team of “R&S Heavy” instructors. As you will see below, 5 out of 6 of my instructors all have their CCIE R&S. Terry and Laurent will be leading our R&S initiatives, and also be assisting in our Data Center portfolio, and Jason will be leading our Data Center strategy – while also assisting in our R&S initiatives . The remainder of my instructors w/ their R&S CCIE will be involved in various aspects of “Next Generation” all assisting within the R&S track, which will allow for us to accomplish one of the biggest changes you’ll see when “Next Generation” goes live.

CCIE Routing and Switching & CCIE Data Center

Terry Vinson (Dual CCIE R&S and DC)

Terry Vinson is a seasoned instructor, with nearly 25 years of experience teaching and writing technical courses and training materials. During the 15-year span prior to joining iPexpert as a full-time instructor, Terry taught and developed training content, as well as provided technical consulting for high-end firms in the N. Virginia / Washington DC area. His technical expertise lies in the Cisco arena with a focus on all Routing and Switching technologies as well as the latest Data Center technologies including Nexus switching, unified computing, and storage area networking (SAN) technologies. Terry’s most recent accomplishment was being selected as the co-author of the Cisco CCIE Routing and Switching v5.0 Official Cert Guide Library, 5th Edition, which is soon to be released by Cisco Press. Terry has been focusing on iPexpert’s new CCIE R&S V5 Next Generation product portfolio and will be teaching a majority of our CCIE R&S bootcamps. He is also going to be involved in teaching CCIE Data Center classes, and ensuring that our R&S and Data Center products are overhauled – and seen as the best in the industry.

Jason Lunde (Dual CCIE R&S and DC)

Jason Lunde is a dual CCIE who passed the R&S v4 lab in 2011, and the data center lab in December of 2013, both on his first attempt.  He also holds a BS in CIS from Colorado State Univ.- Pueblo, and a MS in Infosec. Mgmt. from Colorado Technical Institute. He has been in and around the networking industry since 2006.  His real-world expertise spans many verticals such as oil & gas, education, banking, entertainment, and retail.  His past several years have been spent doing post-sales designs, configurations, and troubleshooting for a Cisco partner in the mid-west; providing services for both SMB and enterprise-level clients.  His primary focus over the past two years has been around datacenter technologies such as OTV, FabricPath, VPC, and converged networking. Jason’s primary focus is going to be to ensure that iPexpert’s Data Center product portfolio (CCNA, CCNP and CCIE) are the best in the world. He’ll be teaching our CCIE Data Center classes, and when able – assisting with R&S development and bootcamps.

Laurent Metzger (Triple CCIE R&S, Data Center and Storage)

Laurent, a triple CCIE, has been working in the telecommunications industry for over a decade. He has extensive hands-on experience supporting and troubleshooting some of the largest networks in France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland, with a primary focus on MPLS/VPN service provider, and Cisco Data Center networks and technologies. Recently, he has been a Sr. Network Architect for highly-visible corporations in Switzerland, where he has designed, installed, supported, and trained on various data center technologies, including LAN-SAN convergence, virtualization, hybrid cloud solutions, and inter-DC communication. Laurent is involved in iPexpert’s Next Generation CCIE Data Center and R&S self-study product development and also teaches CCIE R&S and Data Center classes throughout Europe.

CCIE Collaboration

Andy Vassar (Dual CCIE R&S and Collaboration)

Andy Vassar is a dual CCIE who passed the CCIE Routing & Switching lab in September 2008 and the CCIE Voice lab in September 2010. He then upgraded to the CCIE Collaboration in March 2014. Andy also holds a Bachelors Degree in Network Engineering Technology from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He has been a part of the networking industry for over ten years, and has recently been focused on corporate voice & video (collaboration) network design, support, and implementation. While working for Cisco as a senior network engineer in Chicago, Andy had the opportunity to work with several highly-visible, large-scale clients where he designed, optimized, and trained various staff departments and employees on how to support their enterprise voice and video networks. With nearly a decade of hands-on experience with Cisco technologies, as well as Cisco’s Collaboration hardware and application portfolio, Andy is leading iPexpert’s Next Generation CCIE Collaboration training and product development initiatives, and will be delivering live CCIE Collaboration bootcamps in our newest office, right outside of Chicago.

CCIE Wireless

Jeff Rensink (Dual CCIE R&S and Wireless)

Jeff Rensink is a dual CCIE who passed the R&S lab in 2009 and the Wireless 2.0 lab in January of 2013. He also holds a bachelors degree in IT Management from Concordia University in St. Paul, MN. Jeff has worked in the networking industry since 2006, starting in the enterprise space. In 2009, he worked on a team supporting one of the largest datacenters in Minnesota. His last employer was one of the premier Cisco gold partners in Minnesota, where Jeff was the lead wireless engineer for the majority of his time there. Jeff’s wireless experience spans local and national companies across many verticals including enterprise, retail, healthcare, education, and manufacturing. Jeff heads up iPexpert’s CCNA, CCNP and CCIE Wireless product portfolio and classes.

CCIE Security

Piotr Kaluzny (CCIE Security)

Piotr, a MSC in Computer Science, has been in the networking industry for over seven years working in several different capacities within enterprise Cisco environments. His responsibilities included, but were not limited to, implementation, design, and level three technical support. Piotr already has an extensive background as a Technical Instructor – he has been designing and developing Cisco training solutions and teaching CCIE classes for the past four years. He primarily focuses on Network Security, and is the author of most of iPexpert’s current Security Portfolio – from CCNA, to CCNP, up through the CCIE level.

I’m excited to announce that a new update to my CCIE Wireless Lab Essentials video series has been released.  This release actually starts a new version of the lab essentials product.  The good news is that all current and future owners of the lab essentials video series will have both the original version and the new version available to them.  So nobody will lose out on anything.  The original version will be referenced as v2.0 and the new version will be referenced as v2.1.

The new v2.1 series will be released in stages.  The first section released is the Network Infrastructure section.  It contains nearly 11 hours of video detailing just about everything that you will need to know about configuring the switches in the lab.  This is nearly double the number of hours for the same section as compared to v2.0.  As you can imagine, it covers more topics and gets into more detail.

So why release an update to a product that has already been well received?  There are two main drivers for the update.  First, I wanted to have a video series that was more complete.  The original version was taken from a bootcamp class that I did a while back.  Due to the time constraints of a weeklong class, I couldn’t dig into every last topic.  So creating a dedicated self-study series allows me the ability to devote as much time as needed to cover all of the topics that I want.  Second, I am also re-writing workbook 1 (look for the first section soon).  I wanted to be able to have a workbook/video combination where all topics in the workbook are addressed in a video and vice versa.  Basically have products working together harmoniously.

The first section of the new v2.1 video series should be in your account now if you owned the Lab Essentials Video product before.  I hope to have new sections release every month or so.  Next up will be AnyConnect and ACS.  Enjoy!