Well we all drew breath when the v3 of the Service Provider Lab Exam was announced, the hardware list was incredibly expensive, no appetite amongst either candidates or vendors and this has been borne out nearly two months in.
1. There are no vendor labs – Cisco have seen this and placed a Sample Lab together on the Cisco Learning Network -> https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/certifications/ccie_service_provider?view=all
Note the lack of V3 discussion on the forums.
2. There are no rack rentals – only Gigavelocity are looking to potentially put a rack together depending on feedback from potential customers -> http://www.gigavelocity.com/blog/gigavelocity/gigavelocity-news/ccie-service-provider-v30-sample-lab/
3. No passes from INE or IPExpert – I have reviewed their Hall of Fames – Highest SP Number I have seen is 28471 and that was for V2.
4. The number of CCIE’s is dwindling anyhow – some good research done by Morton & Reese here -> http://bradreese.com/blog/5-24-2011.htm
5. To finish on two positive notes for potential candidates – here is a solid breakdown of the sections of the V3 Lab from a recent candidate and combined with the Sample Lab provided in Point 1 above may assist those still brave enough to dive back in -> http://ieoc.com/forums/t/15652.aspx
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Our friend Antonio Soares has updated some Dynamips files & topologies for candidates here -> http://www.ccie18473.net/dynamips5/dynamips5.htm
HTH, Regards
Steve.
