7/21/2004 -- ProsoftTraining.com, currently merging with Trinity Learning, recently announced the first update for its Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) Foundations exam since at least 2000.

According to Prosoft, the upcoming CIW Foundations 5 exam will be a major revision of the previous version, including new focus on recent Web, operating system and security technologies. Detailed objectives have yet to be released.

The exam is expected to debut in "fall 2004." Those who pass it will earn the CIW Associate certification and be eligible to pursue higher-level CIW titles.

The previous CIW exam, 1D0-410, is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31, 2004. According to Prosoft, at the same time the company will end its i-Net+ acceptance program, which allowed those holding CompTIA's i-Net+ title to pay a fee and become a CIW Associate.

The company Web site stats that it is ending the program because the, "CIW v5 Foundations exam includes additional standards, practices and skills not covered by CIW 4 or i-Net+, thus the CIW v4 and i-Net+ programs are not equivalent to CIW 5."

The CIW Foundations exam was in its current version, 1D0-410, when Prosoft announced its CIW Associate title in October 2000. Prosoft's pre-merger financial woes (see here and here) may have stalled an earlier upgrade of the title. In 2001 the company did announce that it would be changing the pass rate of the 1D0-410 exam, but backed off of that decision just days later.

To view the official announcement of the new CIW 5 exam, go here. -- Becky Nagel