Certifications for the cloud

Companies and institutions are starting to use the cloud to cut their costs, improve their productivity and centralize the management of the hardware. Now Microsoft joined the war that was going on among the biggest in the virtualization (VMware, Citrix, Oracle).

Usually certification is add-on to the orthodox education, so Microsoft are trying to reintroduce whole certification among the people interested in it. They've developed new framework that has three skilled levels:

- Associate level - Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA), very basic and very starting point.
- Expert level - Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE), moderate level, similar to current MCITP.
- Master level - Microsoft Certified Solutions Master (MCSM), the highest level, in depth knowledge is needed for particular Microsoft Solution.

With the new certification plan Microsoft want to raise the level of required knowledge for the titles that are earned after passing the tests. The test will be harder and harder.