Yestarday was a busy day for me at Cisco Live. Here is a brief summary:
CCDE Written exam: I decided to take advantage of the free certification exam to recertify my CCDE. Unfortunately I had no time to study, but I managed to remember enough MPLS-TE to pass anyway.
Cisco Catalyst 3750 Switch Architecture: This session went over the details of the capabilities of the hardware at a very low level. It covered all the 3750 models. There was a discussion on how licensing will work in the new 3750-X (Yea! IPv6 has been moved down to IP Services!). Details on the Stackwise and Stackwise Plus functionality only served to underscore how cool the new 3750-X is!
Secure Borderless Network Design: Borderless Networks is really an umbrella architecture that combines other technologies and techniques to enable highly secure and mobile solutions. This session covered the internet module portion of this, specifically the ASA, IPS, and WSA. VPN technologies were also touched upon.
Cisco ASR1000 Series Routers: System & Solution Architecture: Imagine an ISR router (2800 for example) that can do NAT, IOS Firewall and IPS, and VPN at the same time at 20 Gbps! Wow. This session discussed the hardware capabilities and options and how they interoperate to support this highly available chassis. I am going to be looking for oppertunities where this product might fit in the future.
I also spent a few minutes hanging out in the Certification Lounge. I found that the CCDE could be recertified with any expert level certification, even though the website says otherwise. I also met one of the first two CCAr's last night. He was part of the internal team for CCDE, but not for CCAr. At least one other individual is in the CCAr path right now. Unfortunately I secured financing too late to be in the CCAr on this round, but another opening will be coming soon.
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