All posts by Vik Malhi

CCIE Successes

CCIE Collaboration- Recent Passes!

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We would like to congratulate two of the delegates from our September bootcamp on passing the CCIE Collaboration Lab exam.

  • Chad Alder (CCIE # 45276)
  • Rob Lacrosse (CCIE # 45283)

Awesome achievement and we are happy to have played a part in helping you achieve your goal.

If you are interested in obtaining the  CCIE Collaboration certification contact sales@collabcert.com or register now for a seat in a bootcamp or workshop in 2015.

Vik Malhi, CCIE#13890
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VikMalhi
Twitter: @vikmalhi
www.collabcert.com

Media Resources

The Magic of PVDM3 DSP calculations

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For those of you doing CCIE Collab- you do not have access to the DSP calculator tool during the lab exam and so you should be aware of how to work out how many transcoder/conference/video conference sessions are available with the different types of PVDM3 modules. Enjoy watching- you might need to take notes during this video.

Vik Malhi, CCIE#13890
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VikMalhi
Twitter: @vikmalhi
www.collabcert.com

CCIE Successes

Collaboration Lab – Success Stories!!!

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CollabCert would like to recognize two of their bootcamp customers on their recent achievements, passing the CCIE Collaboration Lab exam at the first attempt! Congratulations!

Andres Llerena – CCIE #41978 – (Voice, Collaboration)
Vince Mashburn – CCIE #28606 – (RS, Collaboration)

Here is what they have to say (thanks to them both for their kind words!)

“Vik Malhi has helped me get 2x CCIEs!  I have attended Vik’s CCIE Bootcamp and was so impressed with him that when I found out he had set up his own company I already knew I was going to choose his new company to take the class for the CCIE Collaboration.  Having had my mind made up already based off of his teaching skills and knowledge alone, I was VERY pleased to discover that CollabCert has invested a lot of time and capital in providing high performance servers that can handle all the VMs required for the lab.  The time spent waiting for servers to refresh pages is gone!  He has also invested in 2nd Gen ISRs for all the locations, including the PVDM3s required for the video components of the lab!

Many instructors have to get back to you with answers.  That isn’t the case with CollabCert.  Vik knows the answer.  It’s that simple!  The curriculum has been carefully laid out: designed to be simple, and yet is complex and tricky at the same time – accurately preparing you for the lab and the real world.  He is passionate about his job and is one of the few instructors I’ve met that really cares.  He has continued to provide assistance AFTER the end of the class.  At the end of the day, I truly feel that he is not just your instructor, but your friend.  Thank you, Vik!!!!”

Andres Llerena
CCIE #41978

“Thanks to CollabCert’s bootcamp and practice labs, I passed my CCIE Collaboration on my first attempt.  Vik really helped keep the lab in scope of the current technologies that are on the blueprint.  He also gave awesome time management training.  I practiced for about 30 days with his techniques, using the CollabCert practice labs.  When I got to the actual lab, I definitely noticed the payoff.  I finished the entire lab configuration and still had time afterwards to spend the rest of the time testing and fixing mistakes.  I definitely would not have passed without this bootcamp!”

Vince Mashburn
CCIE #28606

Would you like to join this prestigious list? Visit our website at www.collabcert.com and take a look at our bootcamps and self-study products, taught and developed by Vik Malhi.

Once again – Congratulations gentlemen!

Mike Down
Director of Business Development
mike@collabcert.com
408.800.4086

 

UCM

Extension Mobility Cross Cluster (EMCC)

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It’s been a while  since I posted anything on here but I hope to give the CCIE Collaboration aspirants out there some regular updates over the course of the next few months. So why not start of proceedings with what is perhaps (at least in my opinion) “the beast” that is EMCC. In fact I would go so far as to say that EMCC is the natural heir to it’s predecessor- the beast of CCIE Voice aka IPMA! Anyhow- this 1 hour video (taken from the CollabCert LMS)  is not for the faint of heart so be warned. Good luck labbing this up as part of your CCIE Collab studies, and you will hear from me soon in the same spot.
 
  

Vik Malhi, CCIE#13890
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VikMalhi
Twitter: @vikmalhi
www.collabcert.com

CCIE Collaboration Overview

CCIE Collab bootcamp – Instructor feedback

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After several months preparation of CCIE Collab racks and class material, it came as a relief to finally be back in the classroom talking to humans again! Our inaugural bootcamp took place in our San Jose training center week beginning June 23, 2014- this is just a quick overview of what to expect when you come to a CollabCert bootcamp.

Classroom facility

It was a mad rush to get this classroom ready in time and we just about made it (minus one essential item- the coffee machine). We invested in some purpose built desks large enough to fit 6 endpoints and a computer. We have some really good views of Silicon Valley (not that there was much time to look out of the window). Here are a few  snaps from the inaugural class!

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

The downtown location is 5-10 mins away from San Jose airport with plenty of hotels walking distance away from the facility. I’m really excited that our future customers will enjoy the experience.

CCIE Collab Racks

Our racks are local to the classroom- if there are any issues with hardware/cabling/etc it can be resolved there and then. We have built the racks in an almost identical way to the testing centers. Each student has access to the 9971 and 7965 endpoints on the desk, ISR-G2 gateways equipped with PVDM-3, CUE installed on the SRE and a hypervisor more than capable of running the appliances and Windows servers.

Format of Class

You never really know the format of a class until it has been taught and I was relieved to find that the material could  be covered in 5 days. The format of the Instructor Led Bootcamp is very much focused on the hands-on aspect of learning. The instructor demonstrations and whiteboard chat accounts for about one third of the class with the remaining two thirds open for hands-on lab time. Our labs are delivered using our new web-based Learning Management system and every question that is asked in the lab has a full explanation.  The topics covered in the class as well as the topology can be found here.

What to do before attending class

The class has a big  emphasis on call routing- so knowledge related to the building blocks of the UCM namely Call Routing and its associated features is essential. SIP trunking and SIP Troubleshooting formed a big part of the class- I would say that a third of the time in class was spent troubleshooting SIP signaling and making calls through SIP Trunks. You must have decent working knowledge in SIP Call traces before attending the class. The CollabCert LMS (Learning Management System) and CollabCert Workbook contain particularly large sections related to SIP.

Familiarity with IOS gateways, dial-peers, SCCP media resources is (as was the case with CCIE Voice) another essential part of the course.

You will spend some time on new introductions to the blueprint which include distributed call processing features such as InterCluster Lookup Service (ILS) and Extension Mobility Cross Cluster (a beast!). The more preparation you can do in these areas the better.

Hope to see you in a class soon!

Vik Malhi, CCIE#13890
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VikMalhi
Twitter: @vikmalhi

CCIE Collaboration Overview

CCIE Lab exam “resit” policy changes

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Some important news that affects CCIE candidates may have slipped under the radar (I certainly missed this and just happen to stumble across it here). If you go to 36 minutes into this video you will see first hand details of the policy changes.

CCIE Written Exam

Candidates will only be allowed to sit the same Written exam 4 times per calendar year. This applies regardless of whether you pass or fail.

Also if you fail a Written exam you are going to have to wait 15 days to resit (as opposed to 5 days).

CCIE Lab Exam

This is a big change. There could be folks out there who sit the lab every 30 days on an ongoing basis (for questionable reasons). It won’t be possible with the new rules since the 30 day policy will only apply between attempts #1 and #2. There is a 90 day window that needs to elapse before attempt #3 can be made. The 90 day window applies between attempt #3 and #4 and also attempt #4 and #5. Thereafter, you have to wait a whopping 180 days for every subsequent attempt. These changes apply for all tracks and are applicable from Aug 1 2014.

So let’s just pretend poor Jo Blo passed the lab on the 7th attempt. He would have passed the lab 660 days days after his first attempt (give or take a few days since I think the countdown starts the day after each lab attempt). How did I get 660:

7 attempts

Continue reading CCIE Lab exam “resit” policy changes →

CCIE Collaboration Overview

CCIE Collaboration Lab feedback

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I’m really happy and proud to say that finally, 10 years on from passing the CCIE Voice lab exam, I got off the couch and passed the second CCIE that I’ve been thinking about for almost a decade. Here is the proof (for my own benefit!)

ccie verification

The moment Learning@cisco announced this new track back in May 2013, I knew I had no excuse – all I can say is at this impressive rate I’ll be a triple IE by… at least 2024!

Before I begin to provide some feedback, let me give you an upfront warning – this article is long, but for good reason. There is undoubtedly a real lack of solid information out there regarding the CCIE Collaboration track. Hopefully this information goes some way in addressing the multitude of FAQ’s that exist on the numerous forums and mailing lists created regarding this certification.

Continue reading CCIE Collaboration Lab feedback →