Cisco CCIE Service Provider Certification
Filed under: CCIE Service Provider
Expert Level Knowledge and Experience
Certifies expert-level knowledge and skill for building an extensible Service Provider infrastructure to deliver rich managed services.
Requirements for Certification
There are no formal prerequisites for CCIE certification. Other professional certifications or training courses are not required. Instead, candidates must first pass a written qualification exam and then the corresponding hands-on lab exam. You are expected to have an in-depth understanding of the topics in the exam blueprints and strongly encouraged to have three to five years of job experience before attempting certification. You can review the exam preparation materials included on this page for more information.
Step One: CCIE Service Provider Written Exam
You must pass the two-hour, written qualification exam covering concepts and equipment commands related to packet-based networking infrastructure, before you are eligible to schedule the lab exam.
Step Two: CCIE Service Provider Lab Exam
The eight-hour lab exam tests your ability to configure actual equipment and get a service provider network running in a timed test situation. You must make an initial attempt of the CCIE lab exam within 18 months of passing the CCIE written exam. If you do not pass the lab exam within three years of passing the written exam, you must retake the written exam before being allowed to attempt the lab exam again.