Maine cloud integrator picks up elite data center certification

Summary: GreenPages can now provide highly specialized services for Condusiv Technologies' V-locity, software that speeds up VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines.

GreenPages Technology Solutions, which has parlayed its extensive midmarket experience in virtualization and storage solutions into private cloud infrastructure engagements, is now the latest elite integration partner for Condusiv Technologies (formerly Diskeeper).

The new relationship makes GreenPages one of fewer than 10 "regional superpowers" that can offer specialized services and support related to V-locity, Condusiv's technology for speeding the performance of VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines without requiring additional storage hardware. There are currently more than 1,000 customers using the platform.

Condusiv's new Elite tier is invite-only.

With about $130 million in annual revenue, GreenPages employees about 190 in Kittery, Maine, Boston, New York and Atlanta. It is one of the most experienced virtualization and private cloud hardware companies in the United States, with a particular focus on midmarket solutions for healthcare organizations and financial services companies. Its strategic relationships include Cisco, Dell, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, VMware and VCE, which is the group behind the Vblock converged infrastructure approach spearheaded by Cisco and EMC. 

Heather Clancy is an award-winning business journalist specializing in transformative technology and innovation

TOGAF 9 certification reaches 25,000 milestone

This guest post comes courtesy of Andrew Josey, Director of standards within The Open Group.

By Andrew Josey

Last Wednesday represented an important milestone for the TOGAF 9 The Open Group certification program. In case of already had not seen on our website, Twitter or LinkedIn, the number of TOGAF 9 individuals certificates has exceeded the equivalent brand of 25,000, an increase of nearly 8,500 new certifications in the 12 month period.

For those of you who are not familiar with the name, TOGAF, an open Group standard, is a proven enterprise architecture methodology and framework used by major organizations of the world to improve the efficiency of the business.

Certification is available for individuals who want to demonstrate that they have attained the required knowledge and understanding of the current standard, and reach 25,000 brand is of course an incredible for TOGAF milestone. [Disclosure: The Open Group is a sponsor of BriefingsDirect podcasts.]

However, milestone on Wednesday is not the only positive reflection of adoption, TOGAF in recent times. Just a few weeks ago, the latest report Foote placed TOGAF skills and open AC superior (Open Group) certification of the 340 higher paying non-certified and 289 more high certified it skills, respectively.

Treport, based on data from the United States and Canada, stated that: "independent provider organizations such as The Open Group have far fewer resources to promote their programs, but what they have is certifications of superb architecture that employers needed and highly valued and see their certifications by holding its value if not gaining ground".

There is no doubt that the success of both can be partially attributed to a huge increase in the popularity of open standards in recent years - including TOGAF and open AC.

The economic crisis has its role, of course. Open since the financial crisis began, standards have helped provide a framework that enables Enterprise Architects save their companies money, maintain and increase business efficiency, profitability and unit. And professional-level certification has helped Enterprise Architects to differentiate themselves, better job prospects and safety through testing of delivery times.

However, the worst of the financial crisis a time behind us, the rate of certifications shows little signs of slowing down. The following chart describes the increase in the number of certifications for TOGAF 9 from March 2009:

 

As you can see in the graphic, there are two levels defined for TOGAF 9 "certification of people", and these are known as TOGAF 9 Foundation and TOGAF 9 certified, respectively.

To provide you with a brief overview of these, TOGAF 9 Foundation certification demonstrates that the candidate has acquired knowledge of the terminology, structure and basic concepts of TOGAF 9 and also understands the basic principles of the TOGAF standard and enterprise architecture.

Certified TOGAF 9 certification provides validation as well as knowledge and comprehension in TOGAF 9 Foundation, the candidate is able to analyse and apply this knowledge.

In H, while 9 training partners there are 50 TOGAF now through the world and 58 TOGAF 9 accredited courses to choose from, more and more of these certifications are self-taught. At the last count we had sold more than 7,700 electronic self-study packages for TOGAF 9 certification, making it the bestselling number one in our e-commerce store. These have proven to be particularly popular in small markets where classroom training courses can be expensive or less accessible.

Of course, as we celebrate a major milestone in its evolution, credit must go to the many people who have helped to develop and continue to help develop the TOGAF standard, in particular the members of the Group of architecture open forum. Today's milestone is not only a testament to the value placed on trust, globally accepted standards supported by certification, but to their endeavors.

Trademark was not for so long that we announced in this blog that TOGAF had become a brand globally recognized. Now, just a few months later, we celebrate another important milestone in the evolution of TOGAF. How long they can continue this evolution (and milestones).

More information about the Certified TOGAF 9, including the directory of professionals certified and accredited official training course calendar, can be obtained in the Open Group website here: http://www.opengroup.org/togaf9/cert/

This guest post comes courtesy of Andrew Josey, Director of standards within The Open Group.

Microsoft abruptly pulls 'masters' certification; hints a replacement may come

Microsoft's surprise phase-out of its highest-level certification programs has angered a number of those who have trained or are in the midst of training to be "masters" across a variety of the company's products.

Microsoft officials announced late in the evening on August 30 (the start of the long Labor Day weekend in the U.S.) that it would be retiring its Masters level certification exams as of October 1, 2013. According to the e-mail message sent out to the Microsoft Certified Master (MCM), Microsoft Certified Solutions Master (MCSM) and Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA) communities, Microsoft also will no longer offer Masters and Architect training.

The exact reason as to why Microsoft is doing this isn't clear from the email (a copy of which can be found on Microsoft Senior Consultant Neil Johnson's TechNet blog). It notes that Microsoft is "continuing to evolve the Microsoft certification program." It also adds that "The IT industry is changing rapidly and we will continue to evaluate the certification and training needs of the industry to determine if there's a different certification needed for the pinnacle of our program."

In the comments on a post on Microsoft's Connect site, entitled "Please Don't Get Rid of the MCM and MCA programs," Microsoft's Senior Director of Microsoft Learning, Tim Sneath, attempted to explain the termination decision in a bit more depth. Sneath said the decision to phase out the program "was a painful decision" that was made only after "many months of deliberation."

Sneath went on to say:

"The truth is, for as successful as the program is for those who are in it, it reaches only a tiny proportion of the overall community. Only a few hundred people have attained the certification in the last few years, far fewer than we would have hoped. We wanted to create a certification that many would aspire to and that would be the ultimate peak of the Microsoft Certified program, but with only ~0.08% of all MCSE-certified individuals being in the program across all programs, it just hasn't gained the traction we hoped for."

The certification process costs candidates nearly $20,000, is English-only and is only offered in the U.S., Sneath said.

"Across all products, the Masters program certifies just a couple of hundred people each year, and yet the costs of running this program make it impossible to scale out any further. And many of the certifications currently offered are outdated – for example, SQL Server 2008 - yet we just can't afford to fully update them," he added.

Sneath said Microsoft is "taking a pause" and looking for ways to create a new "pinnacle" certification program. He said, however, that it's still "a little too early to share them at this stage." He added that Microsoft would like to talk to members of the Masters community to evaluate its certifications and build new offerings that would be more sustainable. The original email sent Friday said that those in the current MCA/MCSM/MCA communities would be receiving invitations to "an updated community site," but nothing beyond that.

Sadly, none of this additional information was in the termination email that those in the Masters community received abruptly on Friday. I'd think the decision might have met with less anger if its officials had bothered to share this additional information from Sneath -- not to mention to offer those interested in obtaining a higher-level training credential at least some detail on what will replace the Masters designation.