Unless you have been hiding beneath a rock for the past few months, you will have noticed that the Collaboration market is trending towards the cloud and that means less on-premise equipment for Collaboration Engineers to install, configure and maintain. Central to Cisco’s collaboration cloud strategy is Cisco Spark. This is an app that allows secure business messaging / file sharing, meetings through Spark rooms and video/audio calls.
In July 2016 at Cisco Live in Las Vegas, Cisco SVPs Rowan Trollope and Jens Meggers, and Cisco VP Jonathan Rosenberg gave a sneak peek into what the future holds for Cisco Spark. The demonstration at the keynote showed the audience that a new telepresence unit can be taken out of the box and connected to the cloud in a matter of minutes with very little technical configuration. There is no need for anything on-prem- you just need an account in the cloud and the Serial Number of your client you are good to go. Furthermore, in Fall 2016 Spark will be integrated into iOS 10 which will allow enterprise voice/video calls to be made from an iPhone or iPad. Lots of cool new things in the pipeline! Keep a close eye on Rowan’s blog. Continue reading State of the Union – Shift to the Cloud (CCIE Collaboration)→
The staff at CollabCert would like to congratulate the following engineers who started 2016 off successfully by passing the CCIE Collaboration Lab Exam.
Diego Martin – CCIE #51740 (Collaboration)
Jon Snipes – CCIE #51786 (Collaboration)
Stefan Hultgren – CCIE #51767 (Collaboration)
Make 2016 the year you gain the CCIE Collaboration certification. Contact us today to find out how we can help you!
This week’s featured testimonial comes from Matt Wigfield. Matt was able to win his battle with the CCIE Collaboration Lab Exam on his first attempt! Great work Matt!
“After looking at other companies material for the CCIE Collaboration written and lab, I choose CollabCert for the one simple reason of Vik Malhi. I sampled material from a couple trainers and Vik was the only one that gave you enough information for what you needed and didn’t go so deep that you stopped listening and keep you engaged in the material.
I used the LMS system for preparing for the lab and it was complete and everything was being updated which most companies did not do. If I had any questions with the material, I was able to email Vik and would get a precise response to the material in question.
When I finally was ready to sit the lab and had a date picked out, I went to the two week boot camp. The camp was geared towards strategy and speed. I came out feeling like I could pass the exam on the first attempt. After leaving the camp I scheduled rack time and had zero issues unlike other rack rental companies.
Thanks to Vik and team, I walked into the lab prepared and ready to tackle it. I walked out of the lab knowing I passed and confirmed that later in the evening after only the first attempt.”
This week’s featured testimonial comes from Paul Rittell. Paul was able to end his 2015 in style by passing the CCIE Collaboration Lab Exam. Here’s what he had to say:
I will tell you guys the good, the bad, and the ugly of the CCIE Collaboration study world. My journey towards the CCIE was very frustrating at first. I originally used a different training vendor for the CCIE due to brand loyalty, their popularity and my assumption that the quality from other products would surely follow into their CCIE Collaboration Bootcamp. I was completely inaccurate.
The “training center” for this well-known and “reputable” company was hosted at a large room in a hotel. We had to share labs with other people on a desk that was just deep enough to allow one laptop and nothing else. Sharing labs ended up being pretty frustrating because you could not venture off without ruining the pace of the other person. The bandwidth in the room was not adequate for our class. At any moment we would lose internet connectivity and all phones would unregister in the middle of our labs. If someone performed a video conference then we lost connectivity. It was absolute chaos and extremely difficult to work through labs as you had to troubleshoot your own mistakes and the poor network setup as well. To top it off, we never received the workbooks that were promised. In conclusion, the CCIE training is a different ball game and do not trust someone based on Web Appearance, Videos they have created or lower level training materials.
I was at the end of my rope when I met Vik Malhi. I had the opportunity to speak with Vik in person and after talking with him I knew I would have a better experience with his training facility and approach to the lab exam. I took Vik Malhi’s CollabCert Workshop twice and the experience cannot be considered to be in the same class as these other guys. There were NO shared labs, bandwidth issues, misconfigured racks and when we paid for the workbook he actually gave it to us! The training center is an actual training center with a kitchen and an astonishing view of downtown San Jose. The tables have a huge amount of space and you can easily spread out notes, laptop, keyboard and mouse. Vik stayed late with us and was very patient with even the most inexperienced students in the class. The workbooks and facility alone were worth it but I truly do believe the best asset is learning from Vik. He gives you an actual game plan and teaches you how to attack the lab. When you come out of his class you WILL know what you need to do. At that point, it’s up to you banging out the hours of practice on the keyboard to get your number. Don’t trust these other guys! Go to CollabCert, practice, practice, practice and get your number!
Our latest featured student testimonial comes from Mike Jennings who passed the CCIE Collaboration Lab Exam in December. Congratulations Mike! Read about Mike’s experience below:
“A huge thanks to Vik at CollabCert for helping me to pass the Collaboration lab exam the FIRST time! I attended Vik’s two week camp and also used his Video on Demand library. The video training was concise and well-organized. And the camps both filled in the technology gaps for me as well as helped me to develop the strategy that I ultimately used to pass the lab exam. Knowing the material is not enough to pass the lab. You need to have a solid strategy for configuration and time management.
My advice for anyone on the Collaboration path: use whatever vendor you like to gain the knowledge you need to pass the written exam. Then talk to Vik! The LMS topics will fill in whatever technology gaps you have. And the bootcamps will prepare you to apply that knowledge in a timed test environment. You will also LOVE that Vik does not believe in PowerPoint. I think there was a quick troubleshooting preso, but the rest of the two weeks was either whiteboard discussions or lab time on YOUR OWN rack of equipment.”
This week’s featured testimonial comes from Adam Sorenson who just passed the CCIE Collaboration Lab Exam December 3rd, 2015. Congratulations Adam! Here’s what Adam had to say:
“For anyone serious about passing the lab do yourself a favor and go to Collabcert. I have purchased and used materials from other training companies and Vik’s are by far the best. His materials and strategies are the reason that I now have a CCIE number. Save yourself time and money and just go to CollabCert first. I certainly wish I had!”
This week’s featured testimonial is from Antonio McCarver who recently passed the CCIE Collaboration Lab Exam November 17th, 2015 which was also his birthday! Congratulations Antonio and it was a great pleasure to be a part of your success! Here’s what Antonio had to say about his experience:
First and foremost there are NO words that can adequately express how grateful and thankful I am to have passed this beast of an exam. There are even fewer words that I can use to describe how blessed and fortunate I am to have had the training and tutlage that I have had from Vik Malhi. To say that he is the best in the industry is an understatement. Continue reading Featured Student Testimonial – Antonio McCarver #CCIE 51061 (Collaboration)→
“Here is a picture from the only place in the world where you can properly study and prepare for your CCIE Collaboration lab exam. Of course listening to some good music and enjoy a cup of Starbucks while you kill those mock labs!
Look at how happy I am in the pic! And by the way, I wasn’t even a CCIE yet, so, that’s not the reason for my smile! Seriously guys, there isn’t any other way to go about this if you want to be successful. Vik is the best one out there! Trust me and you will not regret it!”
Another week, more passes! The staff at CollabCert would like to congratulate the following engineers who have just conquered the CCIE Collaboration Lab Exam.
Ravi Hegde – CCIE #49472 (Collaboration)
Steven Burns – CCIE #49705 (Collaboration)
Muhammad Abbas – CCIE #49771 (Collaboration)
Sanjay Patel – CCIE #49778 (Collaboration)
Steven stated:
For those seeking the Collaboration CCIE there are a number of offerings out there for you to prepare. But if you are using anything other than the Collabcert resources your efforts will most likely be futile. I attended a 10 day bootcamp hosted by Vik where he provided us with the foundation to become an expert. The issue is that, that doesn’t happen in 10 days it takes several hundred additional hours of perfect practice to gain a level of expertise need to reach CCIE. Just as important is mentorship and that’s where Vik differs from everyone else out there. He continues to coach you throughout the entire process, exposing you to your shortfalls so that you don’t fall for them when it matters most. Without Viks graded labs, phone calls and emails I would not have succeeded. Thanks for everything Vik!
Steven Burns – CCIE #49705 (Collaboration)
Are you serious about obtaining your Collaboration CCIE? Come sit a 5 or 10 day CCIE Collaboration training course with the industry’s best and most popular instructor, Vik Malhi.
