Benefits News

Tuesday January 20, 2009, 1:30 pm EST

Cisco today announced that its award-winning certification program is now authorized for use with the Department of Defense’s education program DANTES (Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support). U.S. military veterans and their eligible dependents may use their GI Bill benefits to cover the full cost of any current Cisco® information technology (IT) certification exam.

"We believe that this collaboration with Cisco will be widely adopted by soldiers and sailors reentering the workforce after their military service," said Dr. Jeffrey Cropsey, director of DANTES. "By providing access to Cisco’s certification portfolio, DANTES clients will be able to develop the skills and competencies in networking and IT that will open up lucrative and fulfilling career opportunities for our nation’s military veterans."

According to recently released data from IDC, the projected supply of skilled networking professionals is not expected to keep pace with demand, resulting in an 8 percent gap, or 60,000 full-time skilled workers each year by 2011.(1) The need for qualified IT workers is particularly acute in advanced networking fields such as wireless, security and voice. DANTES strives to support military personnel to achieve their professional and personal educational objectives following discharge from active duty.

"In the proud tradition of the GI Bill, which in the last fiscal year helped more than 500,000 veterans access quality education resources, DANTES helps articulate the transition between military and civilian life," said Jeanne Beliveau-Dunn, general manager for Cisco. "We are honored to be supporting our soldiers in their continued professional development by imparting the skills and competencies they need to pursue careers in networking and IT."

This collaboration with DANTES is part of Cisco’s global, holistic plan to develop networking talent. Learning@Cisco provides authorized training, assessments, certifications and online learning resources and has developed the Cisco Learning Network, the industry’s first Web 2.0 social learning community site.

More information about the Learning@Cisco is available at: http:/www.ciscolearningnetwork.com

SOURCE: Yahoo News Press Release