4/8/2003 -- Later this year, there will no longer be any Certified Lotus Professionals. Or Tivoli Certified Consultants.

Instead, the titles will be renamed under the larger IBM certification program. The change is part of a move toward brand consistency and the company's previously announced effort to organize its software certifications around specific job roles, the company said.

"We wanted to bring the brands together so that customers could easily navigate the [various] certifications," commented Barbara Bowen, manager, Worldwide Professional Certification Programs for Lotus Education, IBM Software Group. "If you have a different program in each brand&it can be hard for customers to understand how the program fits together. This makes it easier for candidates to [transition between] IBM certifications."

Bowen said that the change sounds bigger than it really is for her program. "It's not like the Lotus brand is going anywhere," she explained. "The structure is the same, the requirements are the same&only the titles change -- but that's good."

"It makes really good sense for IBM and the customers, especially the customers," she continued. "Instead of marketing for separate brands, the branding will be marketed not only by the software group as a whole but by each of the brands individually."

According to a FAQ about the change, the new titles for Lotus-related certifications will be as follows:

Bowen said that the above names are not complete; after each will come wording showing the particular Lotus specialty. The exact names will be announced in two to three weeks, she said.

The new names for Tivoli certifications have yet to be announced.

Bowen told CertCities.com that she's received no negative feedback about the change, although she says there's a certain nostalgia for the CLP name. "Everyone has a fondness for CLP," she said. "I haven't really heard any complaints except that they're attached to the CLP name&[but] once they understand what it is they see the [benefits] of it.

Bowen told CertCities.com that the target date for the name change will be August 1. According to Bowen, the community will continue to receive the same benefits, and the separate Lotus certification Web site will remain intact.

The Lotus certification program launched in 1992 and consists of more than 75,000 certified professionals worldwide. IBM acquired Lotus in 1995.

More information about the transition for the Lotus program can be found in the FAQ here. More information on the IBM certification program in general can be found here.

CertCities.com will bring you more on this change for Lotus and other divisions of IBM as the information becomes available. -B.N.