by
Janet Pinkerton
| Apr 05, 2013
Are you seeking to prove your technical knowledge and skill with cloud solutions? Consider earning the CompTIA Cloud+ certification when the exam launches in the third quarter of 2013. The vendor-neutral certification is ideal for system, network and storage administrators and network engineers with 24 to 36 months of experience with cloud technologies and infrastructure.
If you aren't seeking to prove your cloud chops, you should be – for the sake of your own career growth. The job market increasingly requires that IT professionals' traditional network and systems knowledge and skills also include cloud and mobility network and systems knowledge and skills.
"We're seeing explosive growth in cloud and a lot of skill gaps developing," said Tom Reilly, vice president of skills certification products and operations at CompTIA. "CompTIA Cloud+ addresses a need in the market for a vendor-neutral certification that will provide organizations with the competitive advantage of cloud-enabled infrastructure and open doors for IT professionals to drive their careers forward."
CompTIA positions the certification as a natural next step for IT professionals who have already earned the CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Security+, CompTIA Server+ or CompTIA Storage+ certifications – one that can precede vendor-specific cloud credentials.
"The reality today is that virtually all IT organizations are going to be running multiple types of hardware, software and cloud-based solutions," Reilly said. "Our certifications validate that candidates have a strong background and will be successful in these hybrid infrastructure environments."
The 100-questions-in-90-minutes exam certifies a candidate's understanding of industry best practices for cloud implementation across technology platforms. Its objectives cover cloud concepts and models, virtualization, infrastructure, resource management, security, systems management and business continuity in the cloud.
The exam, currently in beta testing, was developed by subject matter experts from such organizations as Amnet Technology Solutions, BAE Systems, Citrix, Dell, Hitachi Data Systems, NetApp and the U.S. Department of Defense.
Employers can also benefit from this new exam – especially at those companies in which IT networking or technical sales professionals must learn new cloud skills to support business objectives. "CompTIA Cloud+ can help organizations be confident that these people have the right skills to drive the cloud infrastructure," Reilly said.
The exam will be available worldwide at launch, initially in English. Exam pricing is $261 for non-members and $222 for CompTIA members. It can be taken without prerequisites.
CompTIA authorized partner McGraw-Hill is developing CompTIA Cloud+ courseware slated to be available at the exam's launch.
With the 2012 update of the CompTIA A+ certification, the third-quarter 2013 launch of the CompTIA Cloud+ certification and the development of a new CompTIA Mobility+ credential, CompTIA is working to help organizations and IT professionals manage the healthy tension between the industry's trend towards ubiquitous availability of information and with the challenges of securing that information, Reilly said.
"CompTIA's goal is to help train the IT workforce," he said. "As a non-profit, we are not driven to sell specific technology platforms or solutions through our exams, so we are able to test for broad-based knowledge, skills and understanding of best practices and solutions."
For more information about the upcoming CompTIA Cloud+ exam, email [email protected].
Note: This article originally appeared in SMB Nation, 3/21/13.