12/15/2004 -- Cisco Systems' certification program recently decided to allow all candidates access to its free, registration-based CCNA Prep Center Web area.

When the CCNA Prep Center -- which offers free practice exams, lab simulations, tutorials, forums and more -- launched in July, only those who had previously taken a Cisco exam (for example, one exam from the two-track CCNA option, or had failed the CCNA previously) were allowed access. As the CCNA is Cisco's most popular entry-level certification path, the majority of potential CCNAs had never taken a CCNA exam, thus shutting out many candidates from the center's resources.

Don Field, senior manager of core technologies within the Internet Learning Solutions Group of Cisco, told CertCities.com that while the center is still considered to be in "pilot" phase, the company decided, based on feedback from current users as well as other potential CCNAs, to open the area to all.

Field and Peter Catalano, CCNA Prep Center program manager, both say that they suspect the free practice exams are one of the most popular features on the site, although they insist they haven't actually done an analysis of what features are used most.

To access the registration-based CCNA Prep Center, go to http://www.cisco.com/go/prepcenter. -Becky Nagel