Cisco's CCIE Collaboration Certification Announced

Check your calendars folks!  You have until February 13th, 2014 to pass the CCIE Voice lab before it is retired! 

There's been quite a storm of criticism created following Cisco's announcement of the "new" Cisco CCIE Collaboration Certification AND the retirement of the 10 year old CCIE Voice certification.  This criticism is focused squarely on the decision to retire the CCIE Voice program through what Cisco calls "evolution".

This means that anyone that is currently a CCIE Voice can continue to be so, assuming they continue to pass any of the CCIE written exams every two years.  However, they will not be grandfathered and given the CCIE Collaboration Certification without actually taking the new CCIE Collaboration lab.

Given the relatively minor differences between IE Voice and IE Collaboration (20% maybe), I admit the logic of this change escapes me.  The IE Voice already had elements of collaboration within it - why not simply rename it to more correctly describe the contents of the certification along with some needed updates?

Mark Snow from INE has a very comprehensive review of the announcement that has generated quite a lively number of opinions/comments.  Check it out for some great analysis!

Want to voice your displeasure?  Take it to Twitter:  @LearningatCisco

Important Dates
CCIE Voice Written exam [350-030] is retired after November 20, 2013.
CCIE Voice Lab exam is retired after February 13, 2014.
CCIE Collaboration Written exam [400-051] is born November 21, 2013.
CCIE Collaboration Lab exam is born February 14, 2014.