The CCDE is modeled after the company's flagship Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) certification for high-level networking pros. Like the CCIE, the CCDE will have a qualification exam and an eight-hour hands-on exam. Pricing is the same: $315 for the qualification exam and $1,400 for the hands-on exam.

Unlike the CCIE -- which offers specializations for Routing & Switching, Security, Voice and other areas -- the CCDE will not offer tracks. "This is above the tracks," said Jeanne Dunn, senior director of learning at Cisco. "You have to know voice, have to know security, but it's at a higher level. To be a designer, they have to go beyond [to] see how it all works together."

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And while the new title is technically the same level as the CCIE, according to Dunn, the CCDE will be more difficult to achieve. "You have to know what a CCIE knows to design, you have to have been there and done that," she commented. "Many people are going to take this are already CCIEs. That's [our] target audience -- [they've] done enough planning and architecture where they are the right candidates to be looking at this new credential."

Another difference is how the CCDE practical exam will work. While the CCIE focuses on hands-on lab work and troubleshooting -- candidates are required to travel to one of 10 Cisco labs worldwide with the equipment set up for this testing -- the CCDE will use scenarios and simulations focused on the planning and designing of architecting. It will be a "rich media experience," according to David Bump, Cisco certification portfolio manager.

And although the practical exam's development isn't far enough along (it's scheduled to be released in "fall 2008") to say how candidates will share their knowledge through the exam, the new format means Cisco can work with its standard exam delivery provider, Pearson Vue, to deliver the exam through its wider worldwide network when it does launch.

While the CCDE practical is a ways off, the new CCDE qualification exam -- 352-001 (ADVDESIGN) -- launched today in Pearson Vue testing centers worldwide. Objectives for the two-hour, 120-question exam are available here.

Candidates must pass the CCDE qualification exam in order to qualify for the practical. Like the CCIE qualification exams, passing the CCDE qualification automatically recertifies any associate- or professional-level Cisco certification candidates may hold.

For more information on the new title, go here. Becky Nagel