1/16/2002 -- Yesterday Cisco officially announced a new specialty career certification for enterprise IP telephony professionals.

Called Cisco IP Telephony Support Specialist, the title was created "to address the increasing market demand for skilled network professionals who can plan, implement and support Cisco advanced IP telephony network solutions," the company said.

According to a press release, the certification will test candidates skills in a variety of areas, including:

• Cisco Voice over Frame Relay
• ATM and IP for implementing and supporting data and voice integration solutions at the network-access level
• Deploying Quality of Service
• Applying QoS design criteria to enable successful enterprise network tuning in IP phone environments

In order to sit for the title's three exams, candidates must first be CCNP-certified. The exams are now available at Prometric and Vue testing centers worldwide.

For Cisco Channel Partner employees, the new certification will be incorporated in the IP Telephony Specialization, allowing the channel organization to meet some of the role requirements in this specialization, the company said.

For more information on this new title and its requirements, click here.

In other Cisco news, the company officially retired its CCNA WAN Switching, CCNP WAN Switching and CCDP WAN Switching titles on Dec. 31, along with the WAN partner certifications. The company restated its policy that those who previously earned these titles will remain certified for three years from their certification date. There will be no recertification option, although some WAN exams will remain available. For more information, click here. - B.N.