Data Center Talent Program

Fast Lane

Data Center Talent Program


Download PDF DCTP Data Sheet

We transform talented graduates into certified and highly qualified experts for your company!

The Data Center Talent Program (DCTP) takes relatively new technology professionals and turns them into highly-certified multi-vendor Data Center specialists. Any Cisco Channel Partner or company operating a sizable IT infrastructure would benefit from this full-service package. The DCTP is a highly-customized program that is optimized to ensure the greatest value for time spent. The program includes training, evaluating, coaching, mentoring, practicing and examining to guarantee the best experience and best result for every student.

With the Data Center Talent Program, we train cross-vendor certified experts for virtualized data center solutions within six months or less! Designed for students who have earned a technical degree, graduates of a Cisco Networking Academy, or experienced technical professionals looking to expand their skill set, our qualification initiative prepares candidates for productive careers with top Cisco Partners and IT organizations.

Benefits of the Fast Lane Data Center Talent Program:
  • Highly productive experts for top Cisco Partners and IT departments
  • Excellent professional qualifications within the shortest time
  • Cisco Data Center Partner Program job role qualifications


Data Center Talent Programs:

We offer several variations of the Data Center Talent Program, each designed to meet a unique need. After exposure to fundamental and advanced concepts across multiple platforms, each variation brings it all together in multi-vendor workshops where complete solutions are built from the ground up. This is where it all becomes relevant to the complex systems program graduates will work on in the real world.

Our Data Center Talent program has been built to support the needs of the channel and below you will find a list of our current tracks. For more detailed information see the content on each program tab above.

  • Full Program
  • Field Engineer Track
  • Sales Engineer Track
  • DCV Complete
  • Bootcamp Express


Comprehensive Certifications:
  • !Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
  • !Cisco Certified Network Associate Data Center (CCNA Data Center)
  • !Cisco Certified Network Professional Data Center (CCNP Data Center)
  • !Cisco Data Center Unified Fabric Design Specialist
  • !Cisco Data Center Unified Fabric Support Specialist
  • !Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Design Specialist]
  • !Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Support Specialist
  • !VCP5 - VMware Certified Professional
  • !VCAP-DCA – VMware Certified Advanced Professional Data Center Administration
  • !VCP5-DT - VMware Certified Professional Desktop
  • !NCDA – NetApp Certified Data Management Administrator (7-Mode)
  • !NCDA – NetApp Certified Data Management Administrator (Cluster-Mode)
  • !Readiness for the Cisco CCIE Data Center Certification


Contact Us

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions:

Fast Lane
1800 Perimeter Park, Suite 140
Morrisville, NC
1-855-778-7246
sales@fastlaneus.com


Candidate Expectations

The Data Center Talent Program for tomorrow’s data center specialists caters to enthusiastic professionals who relish the challenge of dealing with complex and highly technical solutions. Candidates will engage in training to earn internationally recognized certifications and prepare for the most challenging jobs at the leading Cisco partner enterprises. To this end, candidates must be eager to learn and bring to the table the following traits and skills:

  • By the time training commences, candidates will have earned a (university) degree or completed with distinction comparable training in a technical field or computer science, or have equivalent skills from several years of practical experience.
  • Candidates possess a desire to move up the career ladder and are ready to complete a challenging training program.
  • Candidates show initiative and commitment, have a healthy measure of self-confidence and good communication skills, and are team players.
  • Technology is a candidate’s passion. Professional experience is not absolutely necessary. Ideally, a candidate will have gained initial practical experience with projects.


Training Program

The Fast Lane Data Center Talent Program covers the following areas of technology training:

Networking and Data Center Fundamentals

  • VLANs and interswitch communications
  • IP addressing schemes and IP services
  • Routing operations on Cisco Nexus switches
  • Cisco data center virtualization, storage networking and unified fabric basics
  • Cisco UCS basics

Virtualized Hosts & Storage

  • VMware Virtualization, Virtual Machines
  • vCenter Server
  • vSphere Storage
  • Access and Authentication Control; Resource Management and Monitoring; Scalability
  • High Availability and Fault Tolerance; Data Protection
  • Data ONTAP 7-Mode and Cluster-Mode
  • Virtualization techniques in Data ONTAP
  • Physical and virtual resources within a cluster
  • SAN and NAS protocols
  • Mirroring technology and data protection for a cluster

Data Center Virtualization

  • Cisco Unified Fabric and Cisco Unified Computing
  • MDS and Nexus Series Switches
  • OTV, MPLS, LISP, security, and Quality of Service (QoS)
  • Fibre Channel protocol, FCoE protocol, and Data Center Bridging (DCB)
  • Solution design, storage design, scalability, cloud models, connections, topologies
  • Security, applications, management, troubleshooting
  • C-Series and B-Series UCS servers, and the Cisco UCS Manager
  • Cisco Integrated Management Controller
  • Clustering, resource pools, interconnections, virtualization; design and troubleshooting

Integrated Multi-Vendor & Virtual Desktop Solutions

  • Cloud Computing Models
  • FlexPod with various workloads
  • Enhanced Secure Multi-Tenancy
  • Microsoft Hyper-V and Citrix XEN overview
  • Virtual Desktop Solutions integrated with Cisco UCS

Multi-Vendor Certifications

All Full Program participants will achieve the following certifications:

  • !Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
  • !Cisco Certified Network Associate Data Center (CCNA Data Center)
  • !Cisco Certified Network Professional Data Center (CCNP Data Center)
  • !Cisco Data Center Unified Fabric Design Specialist
  • !Cisco Data Center Unified Fabric Support Specialist
  • !Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Design Specialist]
  • !Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Support Specialist
  • !VCP5 - VMware Certified Professional
  • !VCAP-DCA – VMware Certified Advanced Professional Data Center Administration
  • !VCP5-DT - VMware Certified Professional Desktop
  • !NCDA – NetApp Certified Data Management Administrator (7-Mode)
  • !NCDA – NetApp Certified Data Management Administrator (Cluster-Mode)
  • !Readiness for the Cisco CCIE Data Center Certification

Full Program

The Full Program includes the areas of study listed below. These events feature the latest standard content from Cisco, NetApp and VMware recommended for achieving these key certifications, all enhanced by Fast Lane and delivered by the industry’s top Data Center experts. In addition, unique Fast Lane sessions have been developed to prepare you for real-world solutions and scenarios.

  • DCTP Pre-Evaluation
  • CCNA Preparation Workshop
  • CCNA Data Center Preparation Workshop
  • Cisco Storage Networking Solutions Implementation Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Fabric Implementation Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Computing Implementation Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Fabric Design Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Computing Design Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Fabric & Unified Computing Troubleshooting Workshop
  • CCIE-DC Written Preparation
  • CCIE-DC Lab Preparation
  • NetApp Data ONTAP 7-Mode and Cluster-Mode Administration Workshop
  • VMware vSphere, View and Thin Workshop
  • Converged Infrastructure Workshop
  • Virtualized Applications Workshop


The Full Program is 17 weeks long, organized into common topics, and is delivered via a series of in-person bootcamps. Bootcamp training affords the highest degree of content absorption and allows for more extensive learning interactions with instructors and fellow students. During the off weeks, students have the opportunity to practice on remote labs, take practice online exams, review past courseware and receive advice and mentoring from the program’s lead instructor.

Field Engineer Track

The Field Engineer Track version of the Data Center Talent Program is focused on preparing engineers for post sales and support roles in Cisco partner organizations. Sessions are delivered in standard formats, and students can choose either classroom or Instructor-led online (ILO) delivery methods. Schedules include 8 weeks of training and are designed to allow students time between sessions to continue critical work projects while still making progress toward program learning and certification goals.

The pre-requisite for the FE Track is the CCNA certification. Before beginning formal training, FE Track students take an Assessment Test and those that score below an enhanced passing threshold are required to take a CCNA Data Center Preparation Workshop session.

The FE Track includes:

  • DCTP Pre-Evaluation
  • CCNA Data Center Preparation Workshop
  • Cisco Storage Networking Solutions Implementation Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Fabric Implementation Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Computing Implementation Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Fabric & Unified Computing Troubleshooting Workshop
  • CCIE-DC Written Preparation
  • Converged Infrastructure Workshop
  • Virtualized Applications Workshop


The following sessions are optional in the FE Track and are highly recommended. Special program pricing is available.

  • NetApp Data ONTAP 7-Mode and Cluster-Mode Administration Workshop
  • VMware vSphere Workshop
  • CCIE-DC Lab Preparation

FE Track students earn the following certifications:

  • Cisco Certified Network Associate Data Center (CCNA Data Center)
  • Cisco Certified Network Professional Data Center (CCNP Data Center), Troubleshooting Track
  • Cisco Data Center Unified Fabric Support Specialist
  • Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Support Specialist

With optional recommended sessions:

  • VCP5 - VMware Certified Professional
  • VCAP-DCA – VMware Certified Advanced Professional Data Center Administration
  • NCDA – NetApp Certified Data Management Administrator (7-Mode)
  • NCDA – NetApp Certified Data Management Administrator (Cluster-Mode)
  • Preparations to achieve the Cisco CCIE Data Center certification 

Sales Engineer Track

The Sales Engineer Track version of the Data Center Talent Program is focused on preparing engineers for pre sales and design roles in Cisco partner organizations. Sessions are delivered in standard formats, and students can choose either classroom or Instructor-led online (ILO) delivery methods. Schedules include 8 weeks of training, and are designed to allow students time between sessions to continue critical work projects while still making progress toward program learning and certification goals.

The pre-requisite for the SE Track is the CCNA certification. Before beginning formal training, SE Track students take an Assessment Test, and those that score below an enhanced passing threshold are required to take a CCNA Data Center Preparation Workshop session.

The SE Track includes:

  • DCTP Pre-Evaluation
  • CCNA Data Center Preparation Workshop
  • Cisco Storage Networking Solutions Implementation Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Fabric Implementation Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Computing Implementation Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Fabric Design Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Computing Design Workshop
  • Converged Infrastructure Workshop
  • Virtualized Applications Workshop

The following sessions are optional in the SE Track and are highly recommended. Special program pricing is available.

  • NetApp Data ONTAP 7-Mode and Cluster-Mode Administration Workshop
  • VMware vSphere Workshop
  • CCIE-DC Lab Preparation

SE Track students earn the following certifications:

  • Cisco Certified Network Associate Data Center (CCNA Data Center)
  • Cisco Certified Network Professional Data Center (CCNP Data Center), Design Track
  • Cisco Data Center Unified Fabric Design Specialist
  • Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Design Specialist

With optional recommended sessions:

  • VCP5 - VMware Certified Professional
  • VCAP-DCA – VMware Certified Advanced Professional Data Center Administration
  • NCDA – NetApp Certified Data Management Administrator (7-Mode)
  • NCDA – NetApp Certified Data Management Administrator (Cluster-Mode)

DCV Complete

The DCV (Data Center Virtualization) Complete version of the Data Center Talent Program is focused on preparing engineers for both pre and post sales roles in Cisco partner organizations. Sessions are delivered in standard formats, and students can choose either classroom or Instructor-led online (ILO) delivery methods. Schedules include 10 weeks of training, and are designed to allow students time between sessions to continue critical work projects while still making progress toward program learning and certification goals.

The pre-requisite for the DCV Complete is the CCNA certification. Before beginning formal training, DCV Complete students take an Assessment Test, and those that score below an enhanced passing threshold are required to take a CCNA Data Center Preparation Workshop session.

The DCV Complete includes:

  • DCTP Pre-Evaluation
  • CCNA Data Center Preparation Workshop
  • Cisco Storage Networking Solutions Implementation Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Fabric Implementation Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Computing Implementation Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Fabric Design Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Computing Design Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Fabric & Unified Computing Troubleshooting Workshop
  • CCIE-DC Written Preparation
  • Converged Infrastructure Workshop
  • Virtualized Applications Workshop

The following sessions are optional in the DCV Complete and are highly recommended. Special program pricing is available.

  • NetApp Data ONTAP 7-Mode and Cluster-Mode Administration Workshop
  • VMware vSphere Workshop
  • CCIE-DC Lab Preparation

DCV Complete students earn the following certifications:

  • Cisco Certified Network Associate Data Center (CCNA Data Center)
  • Cisco Certified Network Professional Data Center (CCNP Data Center), both Troubleshooting and Design Tracks
  • Cisco Data Center Unified Fabric Design Specialist
  • Cisco Data Center Unified Fabric Support Specialist
  • Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Design Specialist
  • Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Support Specialist

With optional recommended sessions:

  • VCP5 - VMware Certified Professional
  • VCAP-DCA – VMware Certified Advanced Professional Data Center Administration
  • NCDA – NetApp Certified Data Management Administrator (7-Mode)
  • NCDA – NetApp Certified Data Management Administrator (Cluster-Mode)
  • Preparations to achieve the Cisco CCIE Data Center certification

Bootcamp Express

The Bootcamp Express version of the Data Center Talent Program is designed to achieve a majority of the same learning and certification goals as the Full Program, with a degree of scheduling flexibility built in. This program assumes the student has a greater level of experience and is more prepared for the rigors of this style of training. In other words, some components are assumed to have been achieved or are left to the students to achieve on their own, or are offered as optional components outside of the bootcamp experience.

Bootcamp Express includes:

  • DCTP Pre-Evaluation
  • CCNA Data Center Preparation Workshop
  • Cisco Storage Networking Solutions Implementation Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Fabric Implementation Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Computing Implementation Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Fabric Design Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Computing Design Workshop
  • Cisco Unified Fabric & Unified Computing Troubleshooting Workshop
  • CCIE-DC Written Preparation
  • CCIE-DC Lab Preparation
  • Converged Infrastructure Workshop
  • Virtualized Applications Workshop


The following sessions, while optional in Bootcamp Express program, are highly recommended. Special program pricing is available

  • NetApp Data ONTAP 7-Mode and Cluster-Mode Administration Workshop
  • VMware vSphere Workshop


Bootcamp Express students earn the following certifications:

  • Cisco Certified Network Associate Data Center (CCNA Data Center)
  • Cisco Certified Network Professional Data Center (CCNP Data Center)
  • Cisco Data Center Unified Fabric Design Specialist
  • Cisco Data Center Unified Fabric Support Specialist
  • Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Design Specialist
  • Cisco Data Center Unified Computing Support Specialist
  • Readiness for the Cisco CCIE Data Center certification


With optional recommended sessions:

  • VCP5 - VMware Certified Professional
  • VCAP-DCA – VMware Certified Advanced Professional Data Center Administration
  • NCDA – NetApp Certified Data Management Administrator (7-Mode)
  • NCDA – NetApp Certified Data Management Administrator (Cluster-Mode)


The Bootcamp Express Program is 10 weeks long, organized into common topics, and is delivered via a series of in-person bootcamps. Bootcamp training affords the highest degree of content absorption and allows for more extensive learning interactions with instructors and fellow students. During the off weeks, students have the opportunity to practice on remote labs, take practice online exams, review past courseware and receive advice and mentoring from the program’s lead instructor.

Data Center Content and Certification Details

Data Center Talent Program Content

Data Center Talent Program Certification