
IT Skills to have in 2017 for a Pay Raise
Advances in mobility, cloud, Big Data, DevOps and digital delivery, plus the shift to more rapid release cycles of software and services, are enabling businesses to become more agile. Redmond Magazine recently published a report about the IT skills gap these trends are creating, their impact on salaries and where the demand for expertise is headed. This is an excerpt of that article. You can read their report in full via the link at the bottom of the page.
It’s difficult to find an employer not struggling to come up with a unique tech staffing model that balances three things:
- The urgencies of new digital innovation strategies
- Combating ever deepening security threats
- Keeping integrated systems and networks running smoothly and efficiently

Time Saving Tips for Cisco Unified Communications Managers
Here are two very cool tips for Cisco Unified Communications managers that can save hours of time; use Phone Migration to change phone models and Import/Export to easily copy the configuration onto another device for testing and troubleshooting.Read More

Questions About the New Microsoft Certification Paths
Microsoft announced in September 2016 that they were streamlining their technical certifications, to align with industry-recognized areas of competence while providing flexibility to showcase specific skills on Microsoft products and services. Although that announcement was exciting, it brought with it a number of questions.Read More

Microsoft Streamlines Technical Certifications
As Microsoft Learning’s General Manager Alison Cunard announced in September 2016, Microsoft has streamlined its technical certifications, aligning to industry-recognized areas of competence while providing flexibility to showcase your specific skills on Microsoft products and services.
Five new Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) and Developer (MCSD) specialties are being released. These credentials are aligned to Centers of Excellence, used by the Microsoft Partner Network to identify technical competencies that are widely recognizable by both Microsoft partners and customers.Read More

3 Principles of Data Center Infrastructure Design
Your data center is the most critical resource within your organization. As you know, it provides the means for all storage, management and dissemination of data, applications and communications for your business. When employees and customers are unable to access the servers, storage systems and networking devices that reside in the data center, your entire organization can shut down. Millions of dollars can be lost in a matter of minutes for businesses like banks, airlines, shipping facilities and online brokerages. Faced with these consequences, IT executives today must optimize their data centers, like their Cisco Data Center or others, particularly the network infrastructure. When you consider that 70 percent of network downtime can be attributed to physical layer problems, specifically cabling faults, it’s paramount that more consideration be given to infrastructure design.Read More

The Value of Technical Training & Certification
What every technology professional needs to get ahead
Looking to get ahead in today’s competitive tech world? Now, more than ever, training classes and certifications are vital to fuel a successful career. Certification makes technology professionals more likely to get hired, demonstrate clear business impact and advance their careers. But, these things also benefit employers as well.Read More

Introducing Microsoft Badges
Big news – Microsoft has developed a way for you to easily share certification and exam completions with digital badges! Your digital badge allows you to easily share the details of your skills to your professional network in a way that is trusted and verifiable.
Your Microsoft badge empowers you to:Read More

Cisco Device Port Naming Convention
One of the questions I get from my Routing & Switching students almost every week is, “Why is my first FastEthernet interface called FastEthernet 0/0, and not just FastEthernet 0?” Let’s break this down.Read More

Centriq Reviews: Corporate IT Training
It’s become common practice for businesses to ask for customer feedback on all types of transactions. Whether you’re at the grocery store, getting gas or shopping online, companies want to know how satisfied or dissatisfied you are with them and their product/service.
We ask for feedback from every customer that attends a corporate IT training class at Centriq. The feedback you provide is shared with the instructor that taught your class, as well as the company’s Owners and members of the Management team.Read More

How Do I Find and Redeem Microsoft SATV’s?
As a Gold Microsoft Learning Partner, Centriq Training works closely with Microsoft to help customers redeem their Software Assurance Training Vouchers (SATV’s) for Microsoft training classes. Click here for details about what SATV’s are or continue reading for an overview of the SATV process’ keep in mind, the easiest way for you to find out if you have SATV’s and redeem them is to talk to a Centriq Training Advisor. You can contact them directly online, via email or at 913.322.7062.Read More