Novell certifications (CNA / CNE / CNI)

Stands for: The Novell certification ladder: Certified Novell Administrator, Certified Novell Engineer, Certified Novell Instructor, Master CNE

Novell's certification ladder, the first in the IT industry: the Certified Novell Instructor from 1986, the Certified Novell Engineer from 1989 or 1990, the Certified Novell Administrator from 1992 and the Master CNE from 1995, with over 150,000 CNEs by 1999.

Before the CCNA there was the CNE. By Novell's own account, in a release from BrainShare '96 in Salt Lake City on 20 March 1996 celebrating a decade of certification, Novell pioneered IT certification in 1986 with the Certified Novell Instructor programme, introduced the CNE in 1990, the Certified Novell Administrator in 1992 and the Master CNE in 1995, and by then counted more than 4,000 CNIs, 82,000 CNEs, 93,000 CNAs and 6,500 Master CNEs, taught through 1,450 Novell Authorized Education Centers and 150 academic partners and tested at more than a thousand Sylvan Prometric centres, with the one millionth test delivered in 1995. A second Novell release, filed in March 1999 and celebrating ten years of the CNE, calls it the industry's first information technology certification, says it was introduced in 1989, and counts more than 150,000 CNEs and nearly a million certifications granted or in progress; the two releases disagree on the CNE's launch year and both figures are recorded here. The CNE was expanded as Certified NetWare Engineer in the early years and as Certified Novell Engineer later, the second being the form Novell trademarked in 1999.

The ladder. The Certified Novell Administrator, the CNA, certified the person who ran a NetWare server day to day: users, printers, rights, backups. The Certified Novell Engineer, the CNE, certified the person who designed and built the network, and in the 1990s it was the credential a career in corporate networking was built on; the Master CNE, from 1995, sat above it for specialists. The Certified Novell Instructor, the CNI, certified the people who taught the courses at the Novell Authorized Education Centers, and it came first: Novell's own 1996 release says the company pioneered IT certification in 1986 with the CNI programme. The 1999 release lists the then-current family as CNE, Master CNE, CNA, CNI and Certified Internet Professional.

The numbers, from Novell's releases. March 1996: more than 4,000 CNIs worldwide, more than 82,000 CNEs, more than 93,000 CNA certificants, 6,500 Master CNEs, 1,450 Novell Authorized Education Centers globally, 150 Novell Education Academic Partners, more than 1,000 Sylvan Prometric testing centres, and the one millionth test delivered in 1995. March 1999: more than 150,000 CNEs worldwide, and nearly one million Novell certifications granted or in progress during the decade; the same release marks fifteen years of BrainShare, Novell's conference.

The discrepancy. Novell's 1996 release states that the CNE was introduced in 1990; its 1999 release, celebrating a decade of the programme that month, states that it was introduced in 1989. Both documents are Novell's own and both are cited on this entry; the disagreement is recorded rather than resolved, which is how this site treats a conflict between primary sources. The dateline of the 1999 release reads March 1998 in its text while the release is filed under March 1999 and speaks of a decade since 1989; that too is noted.

Why it matters to anyone who was not there. Every vendor certification ladder that followed, Cisco's CCNA, CCNP and CCIE (which arrived in 1993, after the CNE) and the F5, Fortinet, Extreme and Netskope programmes the author of this site teaches today, is built on the pattern Novell established: an administrator tier, an engineer tier, a master tier, and an instructor certification above them for the people allowed to teach the official curriculum through authorised centres. The authorised training centre, the proctored test at a third-party centre, the course number and the exam number as a profession's shared vocabulary all date from here. The NetWare entry describes the product the ladder was built on; the Novell record on the industry timeline carries the company.

Also known as: cne, cna, cni, master cne, certified netware engineer, certified novell engineer, certified novell administrator, certified novell instructor

Sources

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