Cisco began issuing certifications in 1993 to distinguish the best of breed Internetwork experts worldwide. As technology has made extraordinary advancements over the years, the Cisco certification program has continually kept learners up-to-date while addressing the growing skills gap in networking.

Today, Learning@Cisco is proud to celebrate two significant milestones: the 20^thanniversary of the Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert certification (CCIE) as well as the issuance of our two-millionth career certification.

Cisco certification and training is part of Cisco's approach to support partners, customers and employees with the skills needed to maximize the ROI of technology investments. Organizations with Cisco certified staff achieve the greatest return on their network investment, and are equipped with a workforce to meet the demands of tomorrow.

As part of the 20-year anniversary celebration of CCIE, Cisco commissioned research targeted at understanding the value of Cisco certifications. The study, which was conducted by an independent research firm, was designed to measure employer perceptions of highly valued individuals in their organizations. Key findings from the study include:

• Cisco certified individuals reduce networking downtime by as much as 37% on average
• When compared to their uncertified peers, Cisco certified individuals come up to speed more than 20% faster
• More than half of the networking managers in the survey rated external customer satisfaction as 30% or better as a result of Cisco certified staff

As the Internet of Everything (IoE) continues to bring together people, processes, data and more, the need for technical talent will continue to grow. IoE will bring connections to more than 50 Billion devices, which means nearly everything will be connected and intelligent. Every major technology trend relies on a highly secure, resilient network that is prepared to deliver these services. With this evolution, there will be more need than ever for networking expertise as we grow our community from 2 million to 3 million and beyond, in brand new spaces and applications, such as: energy, healthcare, process automation and the brand new world of network automation, process engineering and data science.

Over the past 20 years, Cisco has expanded the availability of training and certification exam materials to support learners in more than 200 nations and territories. The Cisco certified community will continue to expand as we offer new and refreshed certifications and education services that equip individuals with the qualifications to support changing technologies and business requirements today and into the future.

Below, watch as John Chambers provides his input on the value of Cisco's certification program.