INFORMATICA WORLD, LAS VEGAS, May 17, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Informatica Corporation (NASDAQ: INFA), the world's number one independent provider of data integration software, today introduced a completely redesigned Informatica Certified Professional (ICP) program. The new certification program focuses on demonstrated performance and outcomes to validate Informatica implementation skills, differentiate Informatica partners in the marketplace and drive customer success.
In addition, Informatica today launched its new Informatica University onDemand learning offering, combining self-paced lectures with a cloud-based lab environment for hands-on exercises. Informatica University onDemand supplements Informatica University's instructor-led curriculum with complementary courses that provide customers and partners with a rich library of offerings to accelerate their skills development.
"As Informatica approaches the $1 billion/yr revenue mark, it is critical that our strategy is geared toward maximizing customer success. Both, the redesigned ICP program and Informatica University onDemand improve the skills and capabilities required by our value delivery system to enable customer success," said Daniel West, vice president, Informatica University. "The purpose of both new programs is to provide maximum assurance to customers that the people on their data integration projects possess the skills and knowledge necessary to solve business problems, mitigate risk and accelerate return on data. At the same time, we are making it easy and economical for customers and partners to scale their Informatica training and certification efforts across large numbers of professionals."
The Informatica Certified Professional (ICP) program
The new ICP program introduces three levels of certification - Associate, Professional and Expert - in place of the current single level, with a progressive emphasis on confirmed product knowledge, field experience and certification in Informatica's best-practice Velocity implementation methodology. To ensure relevant and consistent skills measurement, the new program introduces high-stakes, lab-based performance examinations combined with cost-effective anytime, anywhere proctored exam delivery.
"In today's competitive market, customers expect quality deliverables and business outcomes in a shortened timeframe," said Durga Prakash Kone, Global Head Strategic Alliances & Partnerships-Enterprise Transformation Services, HCL Technologies Ltd. "HCL Technologies believes that the new ICP program will deliver these results. The program is a high quality offering that will provide HCL Technologies with a competitive differentiator in the market and help customers to be successful."
Managed by Informatica University, the new ICP program's three-stage structure correlates professional certification with the "what, how and why" of Informatica product implementations:
- Associate - To achieve Associate status, a candidate undertakes Informatica product training and must pass a written exam, proctored in person or via webcam. Understands the product (the what) and can contribute to a project as a junior team member.
- Professional - Following field experience, the candidate must take a proctored, high-stakes performance exam in a physical or virtual proctored environment, successfully applying Informatica technology to solve a particular problem (the how). Upon passing, the individual is now an Informatica Certified Professional and qualified to contribute to a project team as a full team member
- Expert - To achieve the highest level, Informatica Certified Expert status, an Informatica Certified Professional can subsequently elect to undertake Informatica Velocity Best Practices Training and Certification (the why).
"Informatica's rigorous new ICP program is well aligned with the increasing complexity and business criticality of enterprise data integration projects," said Jonathan Stevenson, Enterprise Information Architect, Ochsner Health System. "Today you don't buy just software, you also buy ecosystems. Informatica clearly is committed to enabling its partner ecosystem, which in turn helps drive successful data integration projects."
Re-certifying under the new ICP program: special "grandfather" offers
Informatica's new ICP program is in effect starting May 15, 2012. All existing Informatica Platform 8.x / 9.x certifications will expire and no longer be recognized after December 31, 2012. Previously certified individuals seeking certification under the new ICP program can take advantage of two limited-time "grandfather" offers:
- Individuals who have achieved Informatica certification on Informatica Platform 8.x or 9.x before May 15, 2012 have the opportunity to take the new Associate level exams at a 50% discount. This special offer will expire after December 31, 2012.
- Individuals who also want to progress to the next level under the new program and become an Informatica Certified Professional, can take advantage of an additional 15% discount from the cost of the standard Informatica Certified Professional exam if the individual registers for this exam by December 31, 2012.
- All who have already purchased 8.x or 9.x exams and have not yet taken them will be able to take the new Associate exam without any additional cost.
Informatica University onDemand
Informatica University onDemand supplements Informatica University's core instructor-led curriculum with self-paced courses delivered via the web. Informatica University onDemand courses can scale to thousands of users, thus providing a convenient avenue for training large populations of Informatica customer and partner personnel, anytime, anywhere.
Informatica onDemand courses are delivered with a consistent look and feel, and utilize a combination of pre-recorded lecture and a sandbox lab environment for flexible hands-on learning. They are made available in four-hour modules that can be consumed at the learner's own pace.
Currently available Informatica University onDemand courses include:
- PowerCenter Developer 1
- Informatica Data Quality Developer 1
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About Informatica
Informatica Corporation (NASDAQ: INFA) is the world's number one independent provider of data integrationsoftware. Organizations around the world rely on Informatica for maximizing return on data to drive their top business imperatives. Worldwide, nearly 5,000 enterprises depend on Informatica to fully leverage their information assets residing on-premise, in the Cloud and across social networks. For more information, call +1 650-385-5000 (1-800-653-3871 in the U.S.), or visit www.informatica.com. Connect with Informatica at http://www.facebook.com/InformaticaCorporation, http://www.linkedin.com/company/informatica and http://twitter.com/InformaticaCorp.
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Note: Informatica, PowerCenter,Velocity and Informatica University are trademarks or registered trademarks of Informatica Corporation in the United States and in jurisdictions throughout the world. All other company and product names may be trade names or trademarks of their respective owners.