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Cisco Introduces New Cloud, IoT Certifications to Address Key IoE Skills

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To help enterprise professionals develop the key skills needed as a result of the Internet of Everything (IoE), Cisco has announced new IoT and Cloud-focused career certifications.

Available globally, the new Cisco® Certified Network Associate (CCNA) and Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) certifications expand Learning@Cisco’s industry leading portfolio, helping customers develop the critical skill sets needed for these technologies.

The IoE brings together people, process, data, and things to make networked connections more relevant and valuable than ever before.

With it, many industries are becoming digitized and connected in ways previously impossible, creating new capabilities, richer experiences and unprecedented economic opportunity for businesses, individuals and beyond.

As IT organizations adapt to address these new opportunities, IT and networking professionals will require new knowledge, training and skills essential to be successful in evolving job roles.

The new Learning@Cisco curricula focuses on the ability to connect the unconnected, automate and orchestrate services, and provide the infrastructure to enable real-time data analytics in a pervasive manner.

With the growing demand for these skills, the new Cisco IoT and Cloud certifications will prove invaluable in the development of tomorrow’s workforce, helping individuals and their employers deliver business outcomes that equate to customer success.

Manufacturing is undergoing a transformation as the IoE impacts the market. Operational and informational technologies are converging into a united industrial infrastructure. While these technologies are evolving at a rapid pace, there is a growing skills gap, creating a need for individuals equipped to manage and operate the manufacturing facilities of the future.

As organizations recognize the value of converging industrial networks with IT infrastructure, demand for skilled professionals who understand interactions among IT, networking and traditional control systems is on the rise.

World Bank Studies estimate that 200,000 new engineers are required every year from 2014 to 2022 to connect the unconnected.1

The new IoT-focused CCNA Industrial certification is a lab-based training and certification offering that is part of the CCNA Industrial Education curriculum.

The curriculum is targeted at Plant Administrators, Control Engineers and IT/Network engineers working in manufacturing. The training and certification offerings equip individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary to build, manage and operate converged industrial networks.

CCNA Cloud & CCNP Cloud:

The new Cloud certification program will help enable professionals to build private and hybrid cloud-based Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions, allowing IT to enable and control Enterprise-wide cloud deployments in a consistent, centralized manner.

The CCNA Cloud certification prepares individuals to deliver entry-level provisioning and support of Cisco Cloud and Intercloud solutions.

The CCNP Cloud certification is designed to give candidates the skills to explain cloud concepts, as well as design, deploy, and maintain Cisco Cloud and Intercloud solutions in complex environments.

Tejas Vashi, director, product strategy & marketing, Cisco Services, said, “The technological changes we are seeing are unprecedented, both in terms of the opportunities they afford and the pace of change. Innovation is hampered when infrastructure lags, and new challenges arise as the world becomes more connected. The new certifications we are introducing enable IT personnel to handle current and future challenges with job role based training that drives business value for their employers.”

On his part, Glenn Goldney, global business manager, Training Services, Rockwell Automation: “More than ever, our customers are experiencing the convergence of OT and IT on the plant floor, requiring the two organizations to work together to future-proof the development and maintenance of these new and complex network infrastructures. Cisco and Rockwell Automation are addressing this challenge with training and certifications to help OT and IT professionals gain the skillset needed to build, manage and operate converged network architectures throughout The Connected Enterprise.”

 

 


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E-Business

UK Orders Apple to Create Backdoor for Encrypted iCloud Data

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United Kingdom has issued a “technical capability notice” to Apple, mandating that the company create a backdoor to access users’ encrypted iCloud data.

UK Orders Apple to Create Backdoor for Encrypted iCloud Data

This directive, issued under the Investigatory Powers Act of 2016, requires Apple to provide British security officials with the means to retrieve all content uploaded to iCloud by any user worldwide.

Apple’s Advanced Data Protection (ADP) feature, introduced in 2022, offers end-to-end encryption for iCloud data, ensuring that only users can access their information.

The UK’s demand challenges this security measure, potentially compelling Apple to either comply by creating the backdoor or withdraw the ADP feature from the UK market.

Compliance could set a precedent, leading other governments to request similar access, thereby raising global privacy concerns.

The UK Home Office has declined to confirm or deny the existence of such notices, stating, “We do not comment on operational matters, including, for example, confirming or denying the existence of any such notices.”

This development underscores the ongoing tension between governmental surveillance efforts and technology companies’ commitments to user privacy.

 


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Oracle Adds AI Pricing Features to Financial Software

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Oracle on Thursday added another set of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to NetSuite, one of its corporate finance software offerings, including some that might make it faster for consumers to get a price quote on purchases like custom bicycles.

Oracle has taken a different tack with AI than rivals such as Microsoft. Rather than racing toward general purpose virtual assistants, Oracle has decided to add targeted features that speed common-but-tedious tasks like entering a brief write-up of how a sales meeting went into a corporate records system.

Another such task that is common in the business world is giving a customer a price quote on a complicated purchase that might have a lot of options, when a sales professional would need to sift through materials to come up with a price.

NetSuite on Thursday announced a feature to compile such a quote via conversation with a chatbot asking what the customer wants, which can either be used by sales professionals behind the scenes to speed up their work, or directly by consumers in the case of e-commerce businesses.

“When you buy something like a bicycle, you have to configure it – figure out what parts you want and which parts work together. We all do it when we buy our cars on the web these days,” Evan Goldberg, executive vice president of Oracle NetSuite, said.

“If you can configure (products) for customers more easily, you can do more deals in a day, or each deal costs less.”

To power those features, Oracle has decided to skip the costly race to develop huge AI models and instead works with partners such as Canadian startup Cohere.

Goldberg said that Oracle’s recent agreement to build massive data centers with ChatGPT creator OpenAI could lead to working with it as well, though the two firms have made no formal announcements.

“I think you could safely say that there’s a possibility that OpenAI will be part of this,” Goldberg told Reuters. “We are eager to work with OpenAI.”

 


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IBM Exits Nigeria and Ghana, Transfers Operations to MIBB

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IBM, the American multinational technology giant, has reportedly announced plans to exit Nigeria, Ghana, and other key African markets, transferring its regional operations to MIBB, a subsidiary of the Midis Group.

IBM Exits Nigeria and Ghana, Transfers Operations to MIBB

The move, which according to TechCabal was revealed in a statement by the company, effective April 1 2025, is part of a new operating model IBM is adopting across select African countries.

Under this arrangement, MIBB will take over IBM’s local operations, customer support, and relationships while marketing and selling IBM products and services across 36 African nations.

“MIBB will market and sell IBM products and services in 36 African countries, thereby giving MIBB’s sales network direct access to IBM products, services, and support, further boosting innovation and growth in the region,” IBM stated.

IBM has been a key player in Africa’s tech industry for decades, providing critical infrastructure for banking, telecom, oil and gas, and government services.

However, its planned exit follows a trend of multinational corporations leaving Nigeria.

In December 2024, Swiss cement giant Holcim announced its departure from Nigeria, selling its 83% stake in Lafarge to a Chinese firm.

Similarly, South African grocery retailer Pick n Pay disclosed plans in October 2024 to exit Nigeria by selling its 51% stake in a joint venture.

IBM has yet to respond to media inquiries regarding the specifics of its transition strategy and reasons for the exit.


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