Avaya certs

scheistermeister

So since I can't sleep I decided I would check out the tech I hope to be working with soon. I was really interested in them when I heard they had certs so I signed up for their Avaya U and I must say their site sucks compared to Cisco's :P

So I was curious about how many others here have at least looked into them and what they thought.

I also noticed they honor a CompTIA cert (Convergence+) and that is one I have never heard of before. So I was also wondering what that one is like as well.

Basically I would love to pick up some more certs but would rather go for the cheaper option (I know how much CompTIA charges, but not Avaya) and I am also curious what the Avaya ones are like. Anyone know?

Edit: Found some more info...

To start down the Avaya road to ACA you have to do either the Convergence+ or the Convergence Technologies Professional (CTP) with the CTP being cheaper at $175

Talic

The only thing I know about them is that I tried to apply for a company that wanted experience in their gear but they said they weren't willing to train

Are they competitor with Cisco's VoIP stuff?

scheistermeister

Talic wrote:

The only thing I know about them is that I tried to apply for a company that wanted experience in their gear but they said they weren't willing to train

Are they competitor with Cisco's VoIP stuff?

That they are. The company I have been interviewing with uses it but also doesn't offer training with it... They said it would be a "learn as you go/on the job" training.

astorrs

Talic wrote:

Are they competitor with Cisco's VoIP stuff?

They are one of the IP PBX market leaders with around 90% of the Fortune 500 companies using them for something and a little over a million customers. In some ways Cisco is the competitor - even Avaya's new CEO is the former EVP in charge of development at Cisco.

They are also making impressive gains into the Unified Communications space (against Cisco and Microsoft who have divided the market thus far - IBM is also making serious inroads there).

Juniper is also heavily partnered with Avaya (and has been for over 2 years) to the point that there are modules for their J-series routers sold by Avaya, which allows them together to be very competitive against Cisco in the "all-in-one" (IP telephony, routing and security) branch office device space.

scheistermeister

On a side note this is what I was emailed the requirements of the job were...

General network support experience
Customer service and support experience
Customer relationship skills
Personal communication skills
Network design experience
Network analysis/protocol analyzer knowledge
Analog, cable, fiber support - wiring and tools experience
Experience working in a manufacturing environment
Wireless network support
Cisco and HP switch and router knowledge
AVAYA VoIP PBX support
Nortel Meridian PBX support
Netview/ITM monitor software - basic knowledge
Voice mail system administration and support - Octel/AVAYA preferred

networker050184

I checked out the CTP and it looks like something I would be interested in. I have been getting really into multiple vendor technologies in VoIP lately and would like a vendor neutral cert like this. The only material I saw was training courses offered by the TIA and they were quite expensive. You even have to pay $30 for their assessment exam!

I did see a few things available on Amazon, but still rather expensive. Anyone have anymore information about training materials?