Malaysia’s future as an IT hub relies on developing a pool of highly skilled professionals, as  networkers are demanding increasingly sophisticated professional services and a rapidly increasing number of Malaysian networking engineers are now being qualified.

According to Juniper Networks, this is driven by current investment in Malaysia's national next generation network (NGN) and this will have long term benefits in terms of the transfer of knowledge from international experts to locally-based staff, to enable them essentially to acquire the skills to design, deploy, maintain and optimise a national NGN and the number of skilled networkers is expected to grow from 50 now to over 200 when the project ends in about 19 months.

This knowledge transfer will also have a benefit on Juniper partner companies in Malaysia - which moves into  the enterprise space – with 572 engineers certified in 2008, up from 166 in 2007: leading to growing awareness of the ramp-up and payoff benefits of professional consulting and advanced services; with returns on investment valued more highly in a dynamic network environment and in these tight economic times.

“From 2007 to 2009, the Juniper Services project lifecycle went from planning to implementation and operation and in the services background pulls together people, pricesses and tools to provide a service called J-Care Technical Services which reduces customers' costs,” said Maytry Thianesysavanh, Juniper director for Services Business, Asia-Pacific.

In Malaysia, the number of Juniper certified trippled in 2008 over 2007 and professionals in the Asia-Pacific region take take certification more seriously and the region has the highest number of Juniper trained and certified people, with close to 6,000 Juniper certified engineers across the region.

However, that's still not enough as there still is a shortage of Juniper certified professionals as its customers are building out network infrastructure in preparation for when the market picks up an dthe enterprise market is likely to take up this new offering and J-Care provides preventive and proactive tools, and service offerings.

Juniper expanded its services business 260% last year and much o fthis is due to the recognition by Malaysia to develop its advanced andtechnical services, and it brings in experts from around the world to transfer knowledge to staff, technical training and on-the-job training and this level of expertise will trickle down to the enterprise sector. Juniper's IP-based networking equipment is mostly used by telcos.

Getting certified

The Juniper Networks Technical Certification Program is very much hands on and focuses on network operation and troubleshooting with an emphasis on providing practical, day to day support.

For enterprises, it provides courses leading to certification in enterprise routing (ER), enhanced services, enterprise switching and firewall/VPN

The first level of enterprise certification is Juniper Networks Certified Internet Associate (JNCIA-ER) and the course is designed for experienced networking professionals with beginner to intermediate knowledge of Juniper Networks JUNOS (Juniper Networks Operating Susyem)-based routers and their deployment in the enterprise.

JNCIA-ER exam topics are based on the content of the Operating Juniper Networks Routers in the Enterprise instructor-led training course. Exam topics include enterprise router overview, management, and architecture; user interface of enterprise routers, installation and initial configuration, monitor and maintain J-series platforms, routing protocols, and services.

The intermediate level is Juniper Networks Certified Internet Specialist (JNCIS-ER) and the course is designed for networking professionals with advanced knowledge of, and experience with, Juniper Networks JUNOS-based routers and their deployment in the enterprise.

The JNCIS-ER exam tests for a wider and deeper level of knowledge than does the JNCIA-ER exam, with questions included from Enterprise Routing training courses, the JUNOS documentation set, on-the-job product experience, as well as Internet technologies and design principles considered to be common knowledge at the Specialist level.

Exam topics include JUNOS policy, BGP for enterprises, IGP conversion, Layer 2 services, Layer 3 services overview, stateful firewall and NAT/PAT, IPSec VPNs, class of service, branch office connectivity, router management.

The highest certification is Juniper Networks Certified Internet Expert (JNCIE-ER) which is designed to validate the networking professional's ability to configure and troubleshoot the features of the J-series routers.

These features include the service features such as IPsec, NAT, and GRE in addition to the routing protocols BGP, OSPF and RIP. The candidate will have expert knowledge of the JUNOS software CLI.
Passing the JNCIS-ER exam is a requirement for attempting the JNCIE-ER practical exam.

Exam topics may include JUNOS policy, BGP for enterprises, IGP conversion, Layer 2 services, Layer 3 services overview, stateful firewall and NAT/PAT, IPSec VPNs, class of service, branch office connectivity, router management.

In all three cases, certification at each level is valid for two years and to reertificy, candidates need to pass the current version of the exam for their certification level.

For service provider (ISP and telco) certification, it offers courses leading top JNCIA, JNCIS, Juniper Networks Certified Internet professional (JNCIP) and JNCIE certification in Juniper M-Series and T-Series routers and its M-Series virtual routers.

Fast Track programme

The Juniper Networks Certification Fast Track program is specifically designed for experienced networking professionals who want to become certified in JUNOS Software.

Between January and December of 2009, candidates have online access to study materials at no charge so they can quickly increase their value by earning JUNOS-based certifications.

This also is this is wher ethey can get courseware and discounts on certification exams in enterprise routing, enterprise switching, or the latest security platforms running JUNOS.

J-Partner Technical Services

Juniper's J-Partner Technical Services are intended to help its resellers, managed services and complementary technology solutions partners to generate incremental revenue, increase margins and reduce costs by enabling them to become trusted advisors their customers by helping partners to improve operations, manage risk, drive growth and control costs.

Their customers rely on the partners' rapid response to keep their networks running at peak efficiency and ready to handle all business opportunities.

J-Partner Technical Services comprise four levels -- namely business protection, operational efficiency, high availability, evolution & adaptability. The J-Partner Technical Services to address the first level is J-Partner Essential Services, the first and second levels is Efficiency Services, the first, second and their levels is Continuity Services and all four levels is Agility Services.

More information on all these is available from www.juniper.net.