CCIE Lab Suggestions - Cisco CCIE Home Labs
By: CISCO KITS

Yes, CiscoKits can supply you with all the equipment you need to build your very own Cisco CCIE home lab. Why spend $15,000(after course costs, airfare, hotel and other expenses) on a twelve day Cisco CCIE bootcamp that you will walk away with only a lab workbook and a stack of notes? Wouldn’t it make more sense for you to own your own Cisco routers and Cisco switches in your home lab that you can practice with at your leisure for as long as you like with no interruptions? Sure you may be thinking, but I won’t be have access to the CCIE lectures or other materials. Well, yes you will and CiscoKits has your Cisco CCIE lab solution for you and it will be cheaper than attending a CCIE bootcamp in person and you will own your equipment! How cool is that? We are going to change the way you approach your CCIE training while saving you thousands of your hard earned dollars!

Cost Effective CCIE Lab Solutions!

This is an especially great solution for companies who want to train their staff to obtain their Cisco CCIE certifications but can’t afford to have their top network engineers off-site for two weeks at a time. Additionally, the cost savings of purchasing the kit one time which can be used for multiple employees is tremendous! Instead of looking at $60,000 to get four employees certified, what if you could tell your boss you could setup a lab with all the exact same lectures, lab work books, equipment and resources for $15,000! That averages out to $3,750 per employee for CCIE training! Where can you get hands-on CCIE training for that cheap?

We are proud to offer many different options to fit your budget in building your Cisco CCIE lab. We can offer you all the Cisco routers and Cisco switches to build the exact same topology you would practice on in a CCIE bootcamp. Not only that, but it gets better! We can offer you the same exact lab workbooks you use in the CCIE bootcamps. There are the same CCIE lab workbooks provided by the world famous Internetwork Expert. We have the lab workbooks covering the CCIE Routing and Switching program, the CCIE Security program, the CCIE Voice program and the CCIE Service Provider program.

Now your thinking that is great. You can provide the same exact CCIE equipment topology as the Internetwork Expert bootcamp. You can provide the same exact lab workbooks as the Internetwork Expert bootcamp. But how am I to self study this? I really learn best by lectures and seeing and instructor white board the CCIE materials. No problem! We can also offer to you the exact Internetwork Expert CCIE training you would receive if you were at their location.

We have three different formats that you can select to receive your CCIE training.

CCIE Live Online Class –With this option you not only get to participate in the class live and online, but you also be able to watch a recorded version of the very class you participated in with any recording updates. This is better than being there as you can be there again and again and again at your convenience. Also, just to be clear, you will be able to actually participate in the class and interact and ask questions of the instructor. It does not get any better than this!

CCIE Online Class – With this option, you will be able to view online the same 80+ hours of CCIE training as if you attended the course on-site. But for those of you who can’t participate in the class for two weeks straight, well this is the option for you as you control the pace of the class. You have total control over how quickly or slowly your complete your CCIE training. All you need is an Internet connection, Adobe Flash Player installed and you are ready to view your CCIE training. You will also be provided with all the course slides for download too. You can watch your CCIE training once, watch it twice. You can pause the class recording to take care of the trash for your wife or better yet to catch the football game. It is in your hands! You can’t get much more convenient than this. Also you will have the option for just $200 more to get a copy of the course on DVDs to make it even easier for you to watch and review the course lectures.

CCIE DVD Edition - As you would expect, the CCIE DVD edition provides you the same exact 80+ hours of CCIE training as if you attended the course on-site, via the Live Online option or the recorded Online class. This gives you the added convenience of being available on a set of DVDs. This is great for the frequent traveler who is jet-setting all over the country making the big dollars installing complex Cisco infrastructures. Not only do you get the DVDs, but you will also get free access to the CCIE Online version so if you forget them at home you can still view the training online! As with the other classes, you will also receive a copy of all the slides presented during the training.

With all of the above CCIE training options, you will receive unlimited free updates to the product for as long as you need them!

CCIE Home Lab Kits

Now let’s talk a little bit about your CCIE home lab setup. We have partnered with Internetwork Expert to provide you with five choices of the hardware to replicate their exact Cisco equipment topology. So we are sure we will have a CCIE lab package that will fit your budget. As with most things in life, the more expensive the kit, the more features you will be able to exercise in your lab. The really cool thing about these kits is they are applicable to all of their CCIE training lab workbooks. So you don’t have to buy additional Cisco routers or Cisco switches to utilize some of their other lab workbooks. Below we will discuss a little about each CCIE lab option.

CCIE Platinum Lab Kit – This kit is the absolute exact topology that you would use if you attended the Internetwork Expert CCIE class onsite. You will be able to do every lab that is in the lab workbook and experience every feature. This is the kit you really want with no compromises! Additionally keep in mind it is YOUR kit to keep and play with for as long as your heart desires! Although you will be the envy of all your networking friends and probably get quite a few new friends after you purchase this kit!

The next four CCIE kits will all have compromised a little in certain areas so we could produce some more economical CCIE kits. We understand that not everyone can afford the most expensive CCIE out there. So keep in mind as mentioned before, the more expensive the kit, the more features you will get to experience in your lab time. We have partnered with Interentwork Expert to create the best kits to experience the most concepts on a tight budget. I do apologize, but we do not have a list of each feature that will not be able to be utilized as the contents of the kits change with stock and curriculum changes.

CCIE Gold Lab Kit – This kit is essentially the same as the Platinum kit without the Cisco 3825 router and Cisco 3560 switches. If you budget is somewhere between these two, ask us as we can modify this kit to possibly include either the Cisco 3825 router or Cisco 3560 switches which ever makes the most sense in your situation and budget constraints.

CCIE Silver Plus Lab Kit – This kit is very similar to the CCIE Gold Lab Kit. However to further reduce the price a Cisco 3550 switch was removed. As you can see the prices are getting pretty close to some of the Cisco CCNP kits so this is a great value for your CCIE studies on a tight budget.

CCIE Silver Lab Kit –This kit is very similar to the CCIE Silver Plus Lab kit but the Cisco 3550 switch was removed as were the 2600XM routers. A good kit for a tight CCIE budget that will still cover about 80% of the course topics with hands-on labs!

CCIE Bronze Lab Kit– This kit is the most economical kit we can produce for the Cisco CCIE training curriculum. This CCIE lab kit will still cover between 80 and 90% of the topics on the test for 20% of the cost of the Platinum lab kit. This is a great solution if you are super tight on money and you are willing to give up a few features so you can complete your CCIE certification as we had to remove some of the Cisco 3640 routers. Keep in mind you will still have the same number of Cisco routers and Cisco switches as the Platinum lab kit, you will just have some lower end routers and switches that will not support every feature the top of the line kit will. Then after you pass your CCIE certification test, you can go back and purchase the Platinum kit once you are making the big money!

Cisco Kits is a leading provider of CCNA, CCIE and CCNP Cisco training courses and equipment. For more information on certification and education, visit then online today.