• Cisco’s progressing on the roll-out of its new expert level cert program, the Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE) which complements the wildly successful CCIE program. In August, the company will start to offer the hands-on/lab exam portion for this credential at its Chicago, London, and Hong Kong testing centers. Registration for this $1400 exam (same  price as the CCIE hands-on exam) is now open, and if CCIE sign-up is any guide, you’d best sign up early to get a slot if you want to pursue this credential (visit the CCDE Website for registration and sign-up details). As with CCIE, candidates must first pass a written exam before they can register for the hands-on/lab exam.
• Microsoft has now rolled out its slate of Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD) exams for Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5. See the MCPD: Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Web page for details. Tracks are now available for Windows Developer 3.5, ASP.NET Developer 3.5, and Enterprise Applications Developer 3.5 credentials under the Visual Studio 2008 umbrella, and upgrade exams from Visual Studio 2005 to 2008 MCPD (exams 70-566, 70-567, 70-568, and 70-569) went public between March 10 and 26, 2009, to completely fill out these tracks. Those interested in the Microsoft take on “cert games” should check out the company’s online “Are You Certifiable?” game.
• CompTIA is sponsoring a laudable and interesting program to raise money to help miltary veterans and their spouses retool for careers in IT. The organization is accepting equipment donations for auction to raise money and interested vets and family members can learn more about available programs and support at the CompTIA Educational Foundation page.
• Interested in solid state storage? Check out the white papers and other materials that fall under the Storage Networking Industry Association’s (SNIA’s) Solid State Storage Initiative. Cool stuff, perhaps coming in a SNIA cert soon.

That’s it for this month! But if you’ve got a cert program, or cert news you’d like to share with my readers, put me in your mailing list for future updates, please [mailto:edtittel@techtarget.com]. I’ll repeat this procedure in about 30 days (mid-May, in other words).

–Ed–