CCNA voice retiring Aug 14

akboyboy

CCNA Voice - IT Certifications and Career Paths - Cisco Systems

theodoxa

Knew that was coming. Thankfully, Cisco gave 6 months warning this time around, so anyone who has already started should be able to finish by the deadline. I had been holding off deciding whether to go for the CCNP: Voice after I finish CCNA: Voice until they made an official announcement as to what was going to happen to CCNP and CCNA: Voice.

Nafe92014

So i assume there will be no more Cisco Voice certifications in the future? Dang....was hoping to take it after my CCNA R&S

theodoxa

Nafe92014 wrote: »

So i assume there will be no more Cisco Voice certifications in the future? Dang....was hoping to take it after my CCNA R&S

They're changing "Voice" to "Collaboration", which is basically Voice + Video.

bharvey92

Looks like they are changing the CCNA Voice to CCNA Collaboration which involves the 210-060 CICD exam and 210-065 CIVND exams. Not sure if I will take the exam before August. I know there is 6 months before it is retired but don't think I will rush this to beat another deadline (did this both for CCNA+CCNP).

Alex90

theodoxa wrote: »

They're changing "Voice" to "Collaboration", which is basically Voice + Video.

Exactly, and they are dropping the CCNA Video cert as well thus why they've made the CCNA Collab two exams (one voice, one video).

Alex90

I'd try and get it done before it changes if I were you, that way you can just do ICOMM instead of doing CICD & CIVND.

Fadakartel

Lets say i did ccnp tshoot after the ccna voice exam changes would that give me the new ccna colab cert?

Alex90

Fadakartel wrote: »

Lets say i did ccnp tshoot after the ccna voice exam changes would that give me the new ccna colab cert?

Short answer is no. TSHOOT has no bearing on it because it is not the same track and not only that, it is a professional level cert not an associate level (as the CCNA is). If you already have CCNA Voice and you want CCNA Collab then you can take CIVND and you will get the new cert.

GreaterNinja

About a year ago, they were retiring a legacy CCNA R/S exam and it became free. My question is: Will this CCNA Voice exam become free to take at a testing center as well?

sucanushie

GreaterNinja wrote: »

About a year ago, they were retiring a legacy CCNA R/S exam and it became free. My question is: Will this CCNA Voice exam become free to take at a testing center as well?

I don't recall a Cisco exam ever being free.

JeanM

It makes sense to make a Collab exam, there are a LOT of video end points out there so it helps to understand Video . IMHO

GreaterNinja

7 September 2013
640-802SA


ok so it was a little over a year ago, but the above exam was free at pearson cisco...it was a internal google thread.

ccnpninja

Cisco has to cope with the rapid change in the UC world.

SteveO86

I always wondered what was going to happen to the CCNA: Video since it kind of sat there all by itself.

I am kind of happy the CCNP: Collab is only 4x exams instead of the the 5x exams CCNP: Voice was.

Kind of hoping the Wireless track gets an update now.. since it's also an aged track.

mgmguy1

I am not sure I am correct but I am seeing a $100.00 drop in Cisco 2811's on Ebay. I am wondering if this is due to the CCNA voice being retired ?
in addition, Since Cisco has decided they are changing CCNA Voice to "Collaboration" ,which is basically voice + Video I am wondering what the hardware requirements for a home lab are going to be ??

Any thoughts ?

azaghul

We are seeing the same price drop on 2801/2811 in Australia, in some cases you can get them as low as AU$50...not due to any exams being retired, more likely due to End-Of-Life or equipment being retired from being leased.

theodoxa

mgmguy1 wrote: »

I am not sure I am correct but I am seeing a $100.00 drop in Cisco 2811's on Ebay. I am wondering if this is due to the CCNA voice being retired ?
in addition, Since Cisco has decided they are changing CCNA Voice to "Collaboration" ,which is basically voice + Video I am wondering what the hardware requirements for a home lab are going to be ??

Any thoughts ?

The prices for ISRs (1800 and 2800) have been coming down for a while. They dropped substantially in 2013 and came down even more in 2014. I attribute this to companies upgrading to ISR G2s (1900, 2900, 3900 Series).

shodown

28xx are very old now. I havent deployed one since 2010 brand new. Its was all 29/39xx routers. Now I'm deploying the newer 4xxx series routers. The 29/39 won't be going end of life soon, but its coming.

mgmguy1

shodown wrote: »

28xx are very old now. I havent deployed one since 2010 brand new. Its was all 29/39xx routers. Now I'm deploying the newer 4xxx series routers. The 29/39 won't be going end of life soon, but its coming.

Shodown, while I think it's cool you have experience with newer Cisco equipment. I did an E-bay search for a 2901 Cisco voice router. The cheapest I have seen is $920.00 dollars. My concern is once I finish my CCNA studies I want to go into CCNA voice and I am worried that the lab equipment for this new certification may be out of my price point. In addition , I am hoping someone will post something here soon in regards to this issue and provide some guidance for those of us who want to build a home lab for future certifications while sticking to a budget and not use GNS3.

Brad0985

http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/certifications/shared/docs/collab_convergence.pdf

mgmguy1

Thank you.

theodoxa

mgmguy1 wrote: »

Shodown, while I think it's cool you have experience with newer Cisco equipment. I did an E-bay search for a 2901 Cisco voice router. The cheapest I have seen is $920.00 dollars. My concern is once I finish my CCNA studies I want to go into CCNA voice and I am worried that the lab equipment for this new certification may be out of my price point. In addition , I am hoping someone will post something here soon in regards to this issue and provide some guidance for those of us who want to build a home lab for future certifications while sticking to a budget and not use GNS3.

Cisco 1921 -- $495 (Cisco 1921 | eBay)
Cisco 2901 -- $675 (Cisco 2901 | eBay)

The real problem with the ISR G2s is not so much the price (though, they are expensive), but the licensing. The UC license which is required to enable the voice features costs more than the router. If you need the Data or Security (VPN) licenses also, the price has just tripled from the base cost of the router.

mgmguy1

theodoxa wrote: »

Cisco 1921 -- $495 (Cisco 1921 | eBay)
Cisco 2901 -- $675 (Cisco 2901 | eBay)

The real problem with the ISR G2s is not so much the price (though, they are expensive), but the licensing. The UC license which is required to enable the voice features costs more than the router. If you need the Data or Security (VPN) licenses also, the price has just tripled from the base cost of the router.

Yep ,this makes adding any ISR G2 equipment to my home lab not feasible for my-self and others with the current price structure. I am still going to go ahead and get a cisco 2811 as planned but after I have my CCNA certification I may switch to a different certification to improve my skill set while I await to see what cisco does with their business model as it relates to equipment and training.

shodown

I understand your pain and frustration. When i started purchasing 28xx routers and 3550/3560 switches I was paying close to 1K sometimes for each device(back in 200. I wasn't making much money back then, so i put some on credit cards and saved up for the others. Then moved onto new jobs when I got the certs or even moved to a new state. Sacrifice is going to be a part of this journey.

As far as GNS3 you will only be able to do SIP trunks as GNS3 can't emulate the TDM connections or DSP's so you will miss out on a lot of things you need to know. But if you know nothing its a good start.


The good news is that is that you can build a very decent lab with 28xx series routers, You will be able to do the majority of things you need to do with a 28xx series. I imagine when the new CCNP Collaboration comes out a 29xx will be needed for a lot of the newer features.


To answer your questions about how cisco deals with its business structure you(certified people) not a huge priority. Pushing product, selling smart net, and kicking brocade, juniper and arista in the nuts everyday is what cisco goals are

theodoxa

shodown wrote: »

To answer your questions about how cisco deals with its business structure you(certified people) not a huge priority.

No kidding. I wish they would do something for IOS [and CUCM, CUC, CUPS, etc...] licensing like they did for the CSR-1000V where they just throttle the throughput [of unlicensed devices] to a level that ensures it won't be used in production, but still allows you to use all the features.

shodown

They have quite a few things for people to get certified. If you work for a cisco partner you can get a NRF kit for pretty cheap. If you are really hard up you can easily do some google-fu and see how people are getting the APPS loaded on there systems. As far as the DSP's they aren't going to make a emulator for them, with everything going SIP there is just no need to make a emulator based on old TDM technology. If there is a will there is a way. Most people who know nothing about voice will get Very far with 28xx routers, I would only suggest 29xx for CCIE or consultant types.

Magic Johnson

What sort of kit will we need for the CCNA Collab?

theodoxa

Magic Johnson wrote: »

What sort of kit will we need for the CCNA Collab?

I would guess --

• Replace ISR G1s with ISR G2s (with UC License = Super Expensive)
• Replace PVDM2s with PVDM3s
• Replace VIC2s with VIC3s
• Upgrade CUCM/CUC/CUPS to the newest version (Not sure how different 10.x is from 8.6)
• Add some video endpoints

Magic Johnson

Its probably passable without any kit right? Otherwise I can't see many people going for it...

Alex90

Magic Johnson wrote: »

Its probably passable without any kit right? Otherwise I can't see many people going for it...

Use CCIE Collab rack rentals if you don't want to build a lab. Granted it's not aimed at CCNA but will still do the job.