This area of I.T. is perhaps one of the most sweeping & extensive there is. It would take many years to become an authority in all elements, & so specialisation is essential to some extent. Cisco & Microsoft are essentially the two leading corporations ruling this field. The software program side of Networking is Microsoft's department, & the hardware side (routers, controllers & switches and so on.) is where Cisco primarily work. It's become commercially necessary for Microsoft and Cisco to move into security over the last several years. Another fast-growing area in this field is wireless connectivity & devices. Even though Digital Forensics and 'Ethical-Hacking' have fingers in all these sectors, they are also disciplines by themselves, and need considerable training & real-life experience to become fully effective.

Industry acknowledged accreditations can be attained from the suppliers themselves as well as vendor-neutral companies. In fact, a number of well respected institutions have become significant players now where certification is involved. The need for grasping converging-technologies and inter connectivity in networks has become well accepted. Networking is in actual fact under-going some significant paradigm shifts right now; both in processing terms & in data-storage, with internet based computing gaining presence & 'green I.T.' starting to be more and more relevant. From a commercial point of view, 'greener' technology must be designed to be more cost effective, in addition to being more gentle to the environment. The actual processing power in modern computer systems is lower, which means much less heat to cool down. Fuel expenses can be substantially reduced for companies like data centres that are big technology-users.

If you're planning to progress a career in I.T., begin by developing a certain amount of networking knowledge. You need to understand just how computers operate and communicate with each other before you consider anything else. Presuming at least a basic level of computer user-skills, (refer to our general I.T. Training pages if not,) the recommended starting place is nearly always 'CompTIA' A+ & Network+ . Examples of these are included on the CompTIA section on this web-site.

Moving on you can choose to follow the MS MCSE or MCSA track if you're considering 'software', or the 'Cisco' 'CCNA' or 'CCNP' track if you are thinking about hardware. Nevertheless, MS has a high domination throughout most network environments, which means an in depth knowledge of their software is actually pretty important whatever your specialisation. You can get further qualification details on this website in the dedicated Microsoft and Cisco sections.

Of course you could possibly fine-tune your 'Wi-Fi' (wireless) skillsets by taking certifications such as the 'CWNP' and 'CWNA', or keep going down the CompTIA track with Server+, Linux+ or Security+ .

The vendor neutral worldwide association 'CompTIA' now provides perhaps the most familiar & widely-respected independent I.T. accreditations. In addition there are several other companies, including the ISC2 (abbreviated from the somewhat long-winded: International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium!) and CWNP ('Certified Wireless Network Professional'). Of course Cisco & Microsoft provide a total selection of skilled professional accreditations. Because of the range and amount of qualification paths available in this sector, it's a good idea to talk through this type of career change with a professional advisor. You might save a lot of time & money, not to mention frustration and discouragement.

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