VMware Joins Cloud Credential Council to Promote Training and Certification

VMware (NYSE: VMW) has thrown its hat in with the Cloud Credential Council (CCC), a 53-member organization whose mission is to boost cloud adoption through standards training and certification.

The CCC positions itself as independent and vendor-neutral with members spanning public sector organizations, academic institutions, cloud providers, cloud consumers, cloud brokers, professional associations and international certification bodies worldwide. It works with members and cloud experts to frame required cloud competencies and develop associated courses and exams, with the ultimate goal of closing the skills gap through world-class cloud training and certification.

While not a watchdog group, the CCC wants to make certain that cloud computing’s benefits, such as cost efficiency and new business models, are not obscured by a lack of sufficient skill-building from training and certification.

Prior to becoming a CCC member, VWware contributed to the organization’s training course content, said Michael Yakiemchuk, VMware Education and Training director.

“Various VMware cloud experts have contributed to the development of the CCC syllabi in a collaborative way with cloud experts from other organizations, and we believe this joint effort will accelerate the overall industry adoption of cloud,” he said. “The CCC certification cloud courses provide an excellent foundation for VMware courses, and we look forward to offering these initially as part of our Americas curriculum."

Marcel Heilijgers, CCC executive director, said the organization’s certifications, while vendor-neutral, map to product and solution badges offered by vendors and that VMware is one of a number of IT companies expected to join.

"The CCC appreciates VMware's involvement and thought leadership,” he said. “Although the CCC certifications are vendor-neutral, they are complementary to vendor certifications. We always recommend candidates to choose a vendor-specific follow-on course/certification. We are currently in discussion with the majority of technology vendors and we welcome all to participate.”

The CCC will release five professional-level cloud certifications this year, including CCC Professional Cloud Developer, Solutions Architect, Administrator, Service Manager, and Security/Governance. Certification details are available on the CCC website.