11/20/2002 -- BEA Systems recently debuted a revamped certification program featuring six new tiers of certification with only one exam among them.

The new titles are for candidates who want to become certified on BEA's WebLogic 7.0 Server product. They are:

• BEA Certified Specialist: Server
• BEA Certified Specialist: Integration
• BEA Certified Specialist: Portal
• BEA Certified Specialist: Tuxedo
• BEA Certified Administrator
• BEA Certified Architect

For all but the Server certification, candidates are not required to pass any exams; they simply must attend two mandatory training courses plus at least one elective course.

Previously, BEA offered only one certification, WebLogic Server Developer. To earn it, candidates were required to pass one proctored exam specific to a version of WebLogic. Training was not a requirement.

Server is the only new title to require candidates to pass an exam. Like the others, however, it also requires attending at least three training courses.

Although training is now mandatory, BEA is allowing candidates to opt-out of up to one course per year by submitting a technical article on a topic relating to the course bypassed.

As for those certified in BEA's WebLogic 7.0 before the revamp, the company said that it will automatically grandfather them in to the new Server title. Those certified in previous versions will not.

BEA is still offering the Developer certification exams for 6.0 and 5.0. These do not appear to have training requirements added.

More information on BEA's new program can be found here. -B.N.