Vendor
Lucent Technologies of course is the spin off from AT&T. It is the part of AT&T that used to be known as Bell Laboratories. They are still in the forefront of technological innovation, especially in the area of fiber optic networks. In 1999 they acquired Ascend, which was a leading provider of technology and communications solutions for telecommunications carriers and Internet service providers.
Ascend had a number of certifications related to its hardware devices for remote access, wide area networking. Plus, linking telephone switches, network connections, and video conferencing facilities and phone company networks.
Ascend products were used to carry voice, data and video information by the majority of leading telephone companies and network service providers and Internet servers around the world.
Lucent Technologies now owns this equipment and technology, and Ascend certifications are now from Lucent Technologies.
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Standard disclaimer: Whether or not any certification is "worth it" is an individual decision. You alone must decide what your career goals and needs are. Look at certifications from a cost/benefit or Return On Investment (ROI) basis. If they help you get a better paying job or make more money at your current job, they are obviously "worth it." The problem is, there is no real way of measuring how much you can expect your income to go up as a result of any given certification. It also depends on non-related job search skills such as how well you network. |
Lucent Technologies is heavily involved with the integration of networks. Technology is encouraging the convergence of all types of networks into one type of network that will carry all types of data, voice as well as computer data. Lucent Technologies intends its certifications to prove the competence of professionals involved with networks.
This Lucent Technologies certification is directed more at persons in a post-sales role, administrating as well as designing networks and their convergence.
If you install, service, support, distribute, resell and maintain Lucent Technologies networking products, you can benefit from obtaining this certification.
You can get an LCTE in these tracks:
Certification in each track depends on passing both computer based exams and lab exams.
These tracks are not easy. They are designed to ensure that networking professionals demonstrate expertise in Lucent products.
There are a number of tests associated with each track, at least three each. The requirements vary.
You should go to the Lucent Technologies site, and drill down to the LCTE area. There is a link to the Candidate Resource Guide, which is a 168 page PDF document which goes into great detail about the various tests involved in each certification and the skills covered by each exam.
They also supply sample exams questions.
If you are serious about obtaining certification in one or more of the LCTE tracks, you should print out the relevant sections of that PDF document and make sure you know those skills backward and forwards.