Certified Novell Instructors (CNIs) Reach 3,000 Mark

March 22, 1995--BRAINSHARE, SALT LAKE CITY, UT--Novell, Inc. announced today that the number of Certified Novell Instructors (CNIs) has reached 3,000. The 3,000th CNI to be certified, Daniel Meservy of Corona, Calif., is the latest in a growing number of individuals prepared to provide authorized Novell training to users worldwide.

"The CNI program plays a vital role in Novell Education's support of The Greater Novell's vision of pervasive computing," said Brent Done, Novell Education's director of Programs and Services. "As Novell Education continues to certify networking and network application professionals who will support one billion users, the role of CNIs will continue to grow in importance. The CNIs who educate these professionals are providing the front-line instruction that begins building that infrastructure of Novell-literate support."

Driving Computer Literacy

"If you're not in networking in the next three years, you'll be using, in effect, horse-drawn wagons to travel the interstate," said Daniel Meservy, a CNI at New Horizons Learning Center. "I value networking knowledge and skills because they're vital to the internetwork communication you need in today's workplace." Meservy also said that if it were not for NetWare and all the historic efforts Novell has made in this industry, "there would be no clear leader in network training and software."

Conceptualized at the end of 1987, Novell's CNI program had approximately 350 instructors by the end of 1990. "Reaching a level of 3,000 CNIs is a significant milestone," said Done, "but we'll need many more CNIs by the year 2000 to train network administrators to support one billion users."

Last year, Novell Education trained more than half a million student customers. CNIs must constantly update their knowledge, undergoing periodic retraining and retesting. "These 3,000 individuals are the most rigorously trained in the industry," said Done. Many CNIs are also consultants, gaining hands-on, real-world experience to bring back to the classroom. "These CNIs are invaluable to Novell's drive to increase networking literacy in the workplace," Done said.

CNIs comprise one-third of the differentiating requirements that uniquely qualify NAECs as the source for networking and network applications training, which are: quality hardware/software facilities, Novell-developed courseware, and CNIs to teach that courseware.