5/16/2001 -- In an exclusive interview with CertCities.com today, Sun's Worldwide Director of Professional Certification Programs Robert Pedigo revealed that Sun will soon introduce a series of new high-level specialty certifications for Java programmers.

"What we have now is more broad-based...[our exams certify] more broad, critical background skills," Pedigo explained. "Our new master-level certifications will add to that, [testing] higher-level specialty skills."

Although these new certifications have yet to be officially announced, Pedigo shared the following details with CertCities.com:

• Sun will release three to four of these new master-level specialty certifications by the end of 2001.
• The first will be called the "Sun Certified Web Component Developer Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition." It is designed for skilled developers proficient with creating solutions using JavaServer Pages, Servlets and Enterprise JavaBeans. Candidates will be required to hold Sun's Java programmer certification before sitting this exam.

"We're very excited about offering these," he continued. "We're here to help people working with our products in real-world job roles...this will definitely do that."

Pedigo could not reveal the official live date of the Web Component Developer exam at this time, but CertCities has learned that the beta version will premiere at the upcoming Java One conference, to be held June 4-8 in San Francisco. Attendees of the conference will have an opportunity to sign up for the beta, which will be proctored on-site.

Pedigo also would not comment as to the details or release dates of the other upcoming Master-level certifications, but did say that the new program structure will be officially announced at Java One.

Java One is Sun's annual worldwide Java Developer conference. Through its adjunct Java University program, attendees can register for in-depth one and two-day, code-level training and certification preparation courses. This year's Java One will also feature discounted certification testing for exams from Sun, IBM and others.

CertCities will bring you more information on this story as it becomes available. In the meantime, for more information on Sun's certification program, visit: http://www.sun.com/service/suned/USA/certification/. For more on Java One, visit: http://servlet.java.sun.com/javaone/index.jsp. -B.N.

Editors Note: Do you have questions for Sun about their certification program? Let us know! We'll be sitting down with Robert Pedigo at Java One for a Q&A session. us your questions -- we'll ask Robert and then post his answers here on CertCities.com.