6/30/2004 -- Red Hat Certified Engineers (RHCEs) will soon have another level of Red Hat certification to aspire to: Red Hat Certified Architect.

The company announced its plans for this new certification last week, saying that the title is, "designed for experienced Linux system administrators who already have skills at the level of Red Hat's... RHCE credential."

Like the RHCE and the lower-level Red Hat Certified Technician (RHCT), the RHCA will focus on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.

Red Hat has yet to announce a launch date for the RHCA, saying only that the high-level title and related courses will be available "later this year." It is expected that as with the RHCE and RHCT, training for the RHCA will be optional.

When Red Hat launches the RHCA, it will be the only certification program to offer three levels of hands-on lab exams. While several other programs offer such exams -- including Cisco, Oracle and Novell (which launched a simulation-based Linux lab exam earlier this year) -- most reserve the format for their highest-level credentials.

Because Red Hat's exams take place in a lab environment, candidates must travel to one of 40 cities in North America or work with one of several training partners worldwide in order to take a Red Hat exam.

For more information on this announcement as well as Red Hat's other credentials, go here. -Becky Nagel