What is CCNP??
CCNP stands for Cisco Certified Network Professional and is a Professional level certification provided by Cisco as a part of their Cisco Certification program. The certification aims at recognizing the individual to be capable of withholding advanced networking skill set and knowledge. The curriculum of each professional certification track has been designed to cater a specific set of technology skills to meet the needs of the industry.
The most preferred certification tracks followed by individuals are Routing & Switching (R&S), Security and Collaboration. Hence, the respective association level CCNA certified professionals, follow this professional level certification, defined for the particular track.
CCNA (Associate) → CCNP (Professional) → CCIE (Expert) → CCAr (Architect)
The CCNP path defined for each track is divided into multiple modules, namely:
a) CCNP Routing & Switching: This track is to be followed for CCNA R&S associates and comprises of modules like CCNP Route, CCNP Switch & CCNP Troubleshoot.
b) CCNP Security: Associate that have already completed their CCNA security follows the track and the respective modules are CCNP SISAS, CCNP SITCS, CCNP SISAS & CCNP SIMOS.
c) CCNP Collaborate: Professional having already certified with association level of certificate for collaboration if are pursuing the Profession level certificate, need to clear the following four modules namely: CCNP CIPTV1, CCNP CIPTV2, CCNP CTCOLLAB & CCNP CAPPS.
Options & Benefits
CCNP in right terms is the third level of accreditation for someone following the Cisco certification track. And can be followed by the expert level CCIE and architect level CCArc. This certification is well suited for Network Engineer, Network Analyst, System Engineer, Specialist, and IT Team Leader.