Hello all, I have seen Jose's reply to the CCVP/CCIE 4.1/6.0 split on a previous discussion, and thought this was a good place to pose questions that I have regarding the future of the current lab setup.
I have started studying for the lab after recently completing the written, however after recent comments I am now starting to doubt if this is the correct lab that I should be looking to pass. I previously have not studied for any other CCIE trck and have always envisaged it would take me 9-12 months before feeling comfortable in myself to go and take my first lab attempt. It is with this timeframe where doubt starts to creep in, and I am asking myself if I am taking the "right" lab. If whispers are true Cisco may well look to be changing the lab early next year to different hardware/software/applications etc, so where does this leave the people that are just about to start on this terrific journey? The first option I see is to try and make a judgment call on what Cisco may be changing in the lab i.e. CUCM 6.x,CME 4.x,CUE3.x,CRS 5.x and start work in my own lab with these newer version's rather than the current / older ones?. The second option is I try and press on with the lab as it currently is. This would mean that when at home I would use the older application versions in the current lab, but on a customer site I would be configuring a completely different version of that paticular application(s). There are obvious points that would aid in my study, but I still fail to see the logic in this method as some parts of my study would have no benefit to my customer base. If I choose option one then this would aid my customers as I am using in my study the versions that they are currently working on, it may be that I have already configured / resolved things that are apparent on their network with a particular product or version. My last question is how this change to the lab will affect training partners products. If I were to take the first option of trying to guess Cisco's next move and use the current lab guide as a general guide for training, what would be the timescales for training partners to update their products to reflect the new changes to lab?. Sorry to go on, I know I am presuming some what, but I am curious as to people's opinion on this. I may not be alone in these thoughts........ CTA
