Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (or MCSE) was the best-known and premiere Microsoft certification for Windows Server 2003. It qualifies an individual as being able to analyze the business requirements for information systems solutions, and design and implement the infrastructure required. Certification is available for the Windows Server 2003 technology, and was previously offered in Windows Server 2000 and Windows NT 4.0.

For the MCSE 2003, candidates must pass six core design exams (Four networking exams, one client operating system and one design exam) and one elective exam, for a total of seven exams. For the MCSE 2000, a candidate needed to pass five Core Exams (Four operating system exams, one design exam) and two electives. Most of these exams have been retired. For the MCSE NT 4.0 (retired), a candidate needed to pass four Core Exams (Networking Essentials, Windows NT Workstation, Windows NT Server and Windows NT Server in the Enterprise) and two electives. These exams have been retired.

The topic of these exams include network security, computer networking infrastructure, Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft SQL Server, and other topics of both general networking interest as well as specific Microsoft products.

There are also specializations available for the MCSE’s along different tracks. For 2003 these tracks were MCSE Security, and Messaging. To obtain these specializations it was required that you do an associated Elective, design and then an extra core exam. The denotation that is usually used for these on resumes etc is MCSE:Security, and MCSE:Messaging.

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 is generating demand all over the world for skilled IT professionals who can support this new and exciting operating system, and those who want this certification are recommended to undergo some sort of Windows 2008 training. IDC, a global analyst firm, estimates that there will be more than 3.5 million deployments of Windows Server 2008 in its first year. If you want to be one of those professionals in charge of the deployment for your company, then get the training you need in our Windows 2008 certification training courses.

Make sure that hiring managers and project leads notice you-with a Microsoft MCTS/MCITP certification that you can get after taking our Windows Server 2008 windows 2008 cbt courses. Combined with experience, certification is an excellent way to demonstrate your understanding of new features-new Web tools, virtualization technologies, security enhancements, and management utilities-and inspire confidence in your readiness to evaluate, design, maintain, and troubleshoot Windows Server 2008, which is what our Windows Server 2008 CBT courses will teach you.

Our MS Windows 2008 CBT training videos are taught by certified professionals in the field that have created an excellent curriculum for the course. You will learn from discussions, demos, presentations and much more. The best part about our self-paced Windows 2008 computer based training CDs is that you are in total control or your own learning journey. You have the freedom to learn Windows 2008 at your own convenience and make your own learning schedule. Our program is the best self-study Windows Server 2008 training courses for busy professionals with hectic schedules since it allows them the opportunity to learn without having to change around their schedule for learning.

No related posts.

General Electric Co., the biggest issuer of U.S. corporate bonds, has a one-in-three chance of losing its AAA credit rating in the next two years as earnings deteriorate, Standard & Poor’s said.

S&P cut the outlook on the company and that of its GE Capital finance arm to negative from stable. While the AAA ratings were left intact, S&P said in a statement today that it was concerned about cash flow and funding for the finance unit as global conditions worsen. GE Capital’s stand-alone rating, without parent support, would be A+, four levels below, it said.

GE Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt said Dec. 16 that the company’s industrial businesses, which include NBC-Universal, will rise no more than 5 percent next year. That’s less than a range of 10 percent to 15 percent given in September. Profit at GE Capital will decline to $5 billion in 2009 from about $9 billion excluding restructuring expenses, he repeated.

“The priority concern from our perspective are the earnings prospects of” GE Capital Corp., S&P analyst Scott Sprinzen, who follows the finance arm, said in an interview. “And we know that they operate in a cyclical business, and that we’re in the midst of a cyclical decline. To some extent, that’s factored into the ratings. It seems that this is unfolding as an extraordinarily severe downturn.”

GE Capital would have to fall “well short” of the $5 billion in net income forecast for next year for S&P to reconsider the rating, Sprinzen said in the interview.

GE declined $1.43, or 8.2 percent, to $15.96 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Credit-default swaps on GE Capital rose 20 basis points to 415 basis points after reaching a one-month low of 395 earlier today, according to broker Phoenix Partners Group.

Known Risk

“The institutional investors that really make the market for GE’s debt, they already know the level of risk, regardless of what you call it, AAA or AA+,” said Guy Lebas, chief economist at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC in Philadelphia. “They’re trading with yields that are not reflective of a AAA credit rating. That’s largely because the company has exposure to the financial world.”

GE’s 5.875 percent bonds due in 2038, its most actively traded securities, rose .105 cents to 96.424 cents on the dollar at 3:40 p.m. in New York, according to Trace, the bond price- reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

GE Capital’s “earnings deterioration in 2009 and 2010 could be greater than we previously assumed,” S&P said in today’s statement. “The outlook revision reflects the continuing risks posed by GECC’s reliance on confidence-sensitive wholesale funding, despite the benefits of temporary U.S. government support programs and of management’s ongoing efforts.”

Immelt’s Plan

Immelt outlined a plan to use capital to support the AAA rating, the highest available, and the $1.24 a share annual dividend, which the company has committed to paying in 2009, the same level as in 2008.

“If we successfully execute on our plan, S&P will reconsider its outlook,” Russell Wilkerson, spokesman for Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE, said in an interview. “We’re confident in our plan as laid out on Tuesday and we’ll execute in 2009.”

Immelt is shrinking GE Capital to less than 40 percent of the parent company’s profit next year from about half in 2007. On Dec. 2, the company said it planned to issue about $45 billion in long-term debt next year, less than the $66 billion it has maturing, and reduce commercial paper to $50 billion in 2009, less than the $75 billion it said previously. GE is reducing its leverage ratio to 6 to 1.

Dividend Cost

The company, which was approved to sell Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.-backed bonds up to $132 billion under that program, has issued about $12.5 billion so far this year to “prefund” the $45 billion it plans to refinance next year. The parent company added $5 billion in funds to GE Capital to help meet the new leverage ratio, Immelt told investors on Dec. 16.

“If we need to do more in that context as time goes on, we’ll do more,” Immelt told investors. “Because I think the AAA’s important.”

GE said in September it would keep its $1.24 annual dividend the same for 2009, the first time in at least 32 years with no increase. The dividend costs GE about $13 billion a year based on the number of shares outstanding on Oct. 2. That payout will be covered by cash generated from operations and dispositions this year of about $18 billion, according to a chart from the CEO’s presentation.

In 2009, a $13.4 billion dividend payout should be covered by cash generation, the GE Capital payment to the parent company and dispositions totaling about $16 billion, the chart said.

Vulnerable

The S&P outlook change is “another piece of evidence that the economic outlook is extremely negative,” said Gary Pollack, who helps oversee $12 billion as head of fixed-income trading at Deutsche Bank AG’s Private Wealth Management unit in New York. “They’re an extremely diversified company. Their financial aspects have always been hard for investors to fully get their arms around. They’re so big, involved in so many things, their financial exposure does make them vulnerable to a downgrade in this environment.”

Moody’s Investors Service Dec. 2 affirmed its AAA rating and “stable” outlook designation for both the parent company and finance unit. Today, it repeated that assertion for GE Capital.

In its Dec. 2 note, Moody’s said it expects GE Capital to earn at least $5 billion in each of the next several years; that GE Capital can restore its historic payment level to the parent company in 2010; and that the non-finance units will generate cash flow that exceeds $16 billion in 2010.

No related posts.

The recognition of the quality of online degrees compared to on-campus degrees varies. While most major online colleges are regionally accredited, the public perception of their quality is in dispute. Some experts argue that degrees in certain fields are more accepted online than in others, while some programs are less suited for online-only schools.

A survey by the Distance Education and Training Council found that 100 percent of employers who responded felt that distance education program graduates performed better on the job as a result of their degree (as compared to their previous performance). Additionally, employers felt that an employee receiving a distance education degree compared favorably, in terms of knowledge learned, to someone with a resident degree.

On the other hand, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported in January 2007 on a Vault Inc. survey that found 55 percent of employers preferred traditional degrees over online ones. 41%, however, said they would give “equal consideration to both types of degrees.”

The Sloan Consortium, an organization funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to maintain and improve the quality of distance education, publishes regular reports on the state of distance education in the U.S. In its 2006 report “Making the Grade: online degree Education in the United States, 2006,” it stated that “[i]n 2003, 57 percent of academic leaders rated the learning outcomes in online education as the same or superior to those in face-to-face. That number is now 62 percent, a small but noteworthy increase.”

In some instances, an online degrees may be no different than a degree earned in a campus-based program. The instruction is often exactly the same, and the online degree contains no special designation. An example of this is the degree offered to Columbia University students who earn a degree through the Columbia Video Network (CVN) versus the campus-based program.

Prevalence of online education

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) conducted a distance education study based on the 2001-2002 academic year at 2-year and 4-year Title IV (Federal Student Aid)-eligible, degree-granting institutions. The study reported that 56 percent of all institutions surveyed offered distance education courses. The study also found that public institutions were more likely to offer distance education than were private institutions.

The Sloan Consortium, based on data collected from over 2,200 colleges and universities, reports that nearly 3.2 million students took at least one online course during 2005 (a significant increase over the 2.3 million reported in 2004). According to the same report, about two-thirds of the largest institutions have fully online programs.

Financial aid

Until recently, students enrolled in online degree programs were ineligible for federal student aid unless at least half of their program was campus based (a law established in 1992 and known as the 50-percent rule). In February 2006, that law was repealed and now federal student aid in the form of federal loans, grants, and work-study is available in the U.S. for students enrolled in an eligible online degree program at an accredited Title IV-eligible institution.

No related posts.