Certification Magazine - October 2007 - (Page 24)

INSIDE CERTIFICATION HP Launches BladeSystem Certiﬁcation Track LINDA MUSTHALER Any way you cut it, the blade server market is hot. According to research firm IDC, the market is projected to grow from $2 billion in 2005 to more than $11 billion in 2010. IDC adds that spending on blades will soon represent 20 percent of customer budgets for new server hardware. That’s a lot of blades going into a lot of data centers. IT vendors and value-added resellers are all out to capture their piece of the pie. “Our blade business is growing, and our partners are really getting behind this solution,” said David Goodsell, business process analyst for Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions’ (ECS) HP business unit. Arrow ECS, a business unit of Arrow Electronics Inc., is a value-added distributor of computer products. “Blades today are in a commodity market, like an industry-standard server,” Goodsell said. “This means almost anyone can sell them. However, this doesn’t mean that everyone has the appropriate knowledge level to sell blade-based solutions. A blade server is really an enterprise sell because of the sophisticated nature of the product.” Goodsell’s colleague, Mark Reedy, concurs. Reedy is a business development manager for Arrow ECS’ HP business unit, focusing specifically on the blades business. He said it takes a consultative approach to selling solutions based on blades. “We believe that resellers who want to sell blades should have a technical certification because a blade server is far more complex than a regular industrystandard server,” he said. “Whether the blade is being deployed for consolidation or virtualization, there are so many things involved — implementation is more complex than sticking a blade in the rack.” To ensure Arrow ECS resellers are equipped with the proper knowledge for successfully selling and implementing blades, Goodsell turned to his hardware partner, HP, and asked the company to develop more in-depth training and a specialized certification track covering HP’s BladeSystem servers and related products. As it turned out, HP was already beginning to develop its HP BladeSystem certification track, featuring three new technical credentials: • Accredited Platform Specialist – HP BladeSystem (2007) • Accredited Integration Specialist – HP BladeSystem (2007) • Accredited Systems Engineer – HP BladeSystem (2007) The track launched in August, and the credentials are available to all HP certification candidates. Prior to developing this separate track, the training and testing for blades content were embedded in the HP ProLiant server track, primarily as an elective specialty. With the vast growth in sales for BladeSystem servers and their related products, it was clear HP needed to place greater emphasis on training and certification for the more complex blade technologies to better meet the needs of channel partners and enterprise customers. 24 CERTIFICATION MAGAZINE October 2007

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Editor's Letter Contents Data Stream Tech Careers Dear Techie Academic Connection Virtual Village Rebooting Your Career Development Inside Certification Forensics Investigators: Cybercrime Fighters Interface Building Your Skills Through Security Tools Ad Index Endtag

Certification Magazine - October 2007

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