6/12/2002 -- In the same interview earlier this month where Vice President of Oracle University Chris Pirie told CertCities.com about the company's plan for several new certifications, Pirie commented on the status of Oracle's Master lab exam, which was originally scheduled to debut this fall.

Pirie said the development of the hands-on exam is ahead of schedule, and will now beta in July and go live sometime in August.

"We think this is going to be really popular," said Pirie. "We've already had a lot of interest expressed."

The Oracle Master Database Administrator 9i exam is the highest level of Oracle's new three-tiered certification program for DBAs, which debuted late last year. To achieve the Master title, candidates must first earn an Oracle Certified Professional DBA (the second level of certification) in 9i, then attend two required training courses. After that, candidates will be allowed to sit the two-day, hands-on lab at an Oracle testing facility (the North American location will be Chicago; worldwide locations have yet to be announced).

"We're requiring the classes because this is an expensive exam [$2,000 U.S.]," Pirie said. "We want to make sure candidates are really ready for it."

Oracle's Master exam is one of a growing number of high-end certification titles that require candidates to configure, program and/or troubleshoot using actual software and equipment in a lab environment. Others include Cisco's CCIE, Juniper's JNCIE, Novell's CDE and Red Hat's RHCE.

More information on Oracle's Master certification can be found here. - B.N.