Certifed Partner

Certification and specialization is based on meeting all requirements within a given country, or country grouping where relevant. Additionally, applicants must agree to the Channel Partner Program Terms and Conditions.

Requirements for Gold Certification

• Base requirements:
  • Specialization Requirements
  • Certified Role Requirements
  • Support Requirements
  • Customer Satisfaction

Gold Certification Specialization Requirements
Advanced Unified Communications
Advanced Routing and Switching
Advanced Security
Advanced Wireless LAN

Role sharing allows a single individual to fulfill similar roles across 2 or more specializations, based upon the specialization and the role. Cisco has reduced the number of unique individuals required across Express, Advanced, and Master Specializations, however, the total number of individuals required to achieve each certification level remains unchanged. A single qualified individual may fill only the AM role in up to a total of 4 specializations. A single qualified individual may fill only the SE role in up to a total of 2 specializations. A single qualified individual may fill only the FE role in up to a total of 2 specializations. Individuals may not cross-populate between the AM, SE and FE roles. SMB, CRM Express and VPN-Firewall specializations are not limited by the above allocation rules.

Certified Individuals in Specializations
TITLE	Account Manager	System Engineer	Field Engineer
Advanced Routing and Switching	CSE	CCDA	CCNP
Advanced Unified Communications	CSE	CCDA	CCVP
Advanced Security	CSE	CCDA	CCSP
Advanced Wireless LAN	CSE	CCDA	CCNA
CCIE requirements for Certification: Gold = 4. CCIE can satisfy any technical CCxx specialization role.

Support Requirements
TYPE	GOLD
Legal Agreement	Valid resale agreement or Indirect Channel Partner Agreement (ICPA) in place
Demo Equipment	Ability to demonstrate one specialization technology at the time of onsite audit
Customer Service	24 x 7
Escalation Process	Required
Call Back	1 hour
Support Lab	Support lab equipment requirement for CSSP , SIS and RSA partners only
Pre-Sales Support	Required
Post-Sales Support	Requirements based on Partner Support Agreement

Customer Satisfaction
Participation in the Cisco partner customer satisfaction survey is required.
TYPE	GOLD
New Certification*	Minimum of 15 responses Must achieve 95% of the regional customer satisfaction target
Recertification	Minimum of 30 responses Must achieve 100% of the regional customer satisfaction target
*The definition of “new” partner as it relates to the enforcement of the customer satisfaction requirement is a partner that has not been Premier, Silver, or Gold certified within the previous six months. Exceptions Premier partners moving to either Silver or Gold must have a minimum of 15 valid responses and meet the theater Customer Satisfaction target. Silver partners moving to Gold must have a minimum of 30 valid responses and meet the theater Customer Satisfaction target.

Before Silver or Gold Certification or re-certification is awarded, an independent firm will conduct an on-site audit in order to ensure that your company has met all program requirements. For a complete list of Certification requirements, please review the Cisco Offer Based Channel Model Audit and Policies Document.