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Open Networking Foundation Releases SDN Skills Certification Beta Examinations

Testing and Training Sessions to Be Held at Upcoming SDN & OpenFlow World Congress

PALO ALTO, Calif., October 5, 2015 – The Open Networking Foundation (ONF), a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating the adoption of open Software-Defined Networking (SDN), today announced the availability of beta examinations for the ONF-Certified SDN Professional (OCSP) Program. Exams are available to everyone and are free of charge for the first 100 participants. Testing and training sessions for the examinations will be held at the SDN & OpenFlow World Congress October 12-16 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

The OCSP Program is designed to provide a strong foundation of vendor-neutral, concept and technical-level credentials in open SDN that can integrate with and complement individual vendor certifications in networking technologies or programming languages. The beta examinations are based on best practices illustrated in a variety of independent learning and training programs, and they are designed to evolve alongside the SDN ecosystem.

“ONF was founded with a goal of breaking down the vendor lock-in that plagued the networking industry for decades. Vendor-specific training programs for SDN only serve to perpetuate those issues,” said Rick Bauer, director of technical programs of the Open Networking Foundation. “We’ve also been built on the voices of the larger community, and we’re using that same approach in ensuring that this program truly meets the needs of the industry.”

ONF’s testing and training sessions for the OSCP Program will be held on the following dates and times during the SDN & OpenFlow World Congress. Individuals who earn a passing score on exams will receive an official OCSP certification as either an ONF-Certified SDN Associate (OCSA) or as an ONF-Certified SDN Engineer (OCSE):

  • ONF-Certified SDN Associate (OCSA) - This certification validates concept-level knowledge of SDN technologies, architectures, and deployment solutions. It is designed for entry-level sales and marketing professionals to have a foundational understanding of SDN.
    • The ONF-Certified SDN Associate testing and training session will take place on Tuesday October 13 and 14 from 13:00 – 17:00 CEST at the Travertin Foyer on the ground floor of the Swissôtel Neuss/Düsseldorf.
  • ONF-Certified SDN Engineer (OCSE) - The engineer certification validates technical and engineering-level knowledge of SDN technologies, architectures, and deployment solutions, and is designed for entry-level SDN engineering and networking professionals.
    • The ONF-Certified SDN Engineer testing and training session will take place on Thursday, October 15 from 13:00 – 17:00 CEST at the Travertin Foyer on the ground floor of the Swissôtel Neuss/Düsseldorf.

Additional certification categories will be announced as the program expands.

Testing is administered online via secure login. Once a candidate has passed an OCSP certification exam, they will receive a certificate and an authorized registration number for their certification, which will be managed through a global online portal available to certification owners and prospective employers. Individuals who pass the beta examinations will receive their certifications once beta testing is complete and the formal program launches later this year.

To register for the testing and training sessions, please visit http://www.eventbrite.com/e/onf-sdn-skills-certification-training-and-testing-at-the-2015-sdn-openflow-world-congress-registration-18766908328.

For more information about the program, and to participate in the OCSP Program beta examinations, please visit https://opennetworking.org/certification/skills.

About ONF
Launched in 2011 by Deutsche Telekom, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Verizon, and Yahoo!, the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) is a growing nonprofit organization with more than 130 members whose mission is to accelerate the adoption of open SDN. ONF promotes open SDN and OpenFlow technologies and standards while fostering a vibrant market of products, services, applications, customers, and users. For further details visit the ONF website at: https://opennetworking.org.