Programmes That Continue
CIW, run by Certification Partners, still operates and still issues credentials, with some exam codes from this era remaining current rather than retired. Its certifications carry a three-year validity period.
SAS also continues to certify. Its base programming credential moved from a multiple-choice exam to a performance-based format in which candidates write actual code, which is a meaningful change in what the credential evidences.
Programmes Absorbed by Acquisition
EMC was acquired by Dell in 2016, and the EMC Proven Professional programme became Dell Technologies Proven Professional. The underlying storage material, particularly the Information Storage and Management curriculum, was unusually vendor-neutral, which is why that knowledge transferred better than most product-specific credentials.
Categories the Market Moved Past
Riverbed's certifications covered WAN optimization, a category built around making expensive private network links perform better through caching, deduplication and protocol optimisation. That problem was real, and the products solved it well.
What changed was the shape of the network. Cheaper bandwidth, SD-WAN, and applications moving to cloud and SaaS destinations rather than a central data centre removed most of the demand. The category was largely absorbed into SD-WAN and then into SASE.
Reading These Credentials Today
The useful question for any of these is whether the underlying skill outlived the product. Vendor-neutral foundations, storage concepts, programming ability, and network fundamentals, transfer regardless of who owns the certification programme now.
Where a credential is tied to a specific appliance or a specific product version, it evidences experience rather than current capability, and describing the work directly usually communicates more than the exam code does.
All Guides
E20-002: The EMC Information Storage Associate Family
E20-002 was an exam in EMC's Information Storage Associate family. Why the vendor-neutral ISM curriculum aged unusually well.
A00-211: SAS Base Programming for SAS 9, Retired
A00-211 was SAS Base Programming for SAS 9, superseded by the performance-based A00-231 where candidates write and run actual code.
201-01: The Riverbed RCSP Certification Family
201-01 was an exam in Riverbed's professional-tier RCSP family. Riverbed's original certification pages are gone.
1D0-635: CIW JavaScript Specialist, and the Version That Replaced It
1D0-635 was CIW's JavaScript Specialist exam, superseded by 1D0-735 JavaScript Specialist v3.
1D0-61A: CIW Internet Business Associate, Still a Current Exam
Unlike most codes in this series, 1D0-61A is not retired. Per CIW's own site it is 30 questions, 30 minutes, 66.66 percent to pass, valid three years.
199-01: Riverbed Certified Solutions Professional, WAN Optimization
199-01 was the RCSP-W exam covering Riverbed SteelHead WAN optimization. The real story is the category: cheap bandwidth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are all of these certification programmes discontinued?
No, and the differences matter. CIW is still running and some of its exam codes remain current. SAS still certifies, though it moved its base programming exam to a performance-based format. EMC's programme became Dell Technologies Proven Professional after Dell acquired EMC in 2016. Riverbed continues as a company but the WAN optimization category its certifications covered was largely absorbed by SD-WAN and SASE.
What happened to EMC certifications?
Dell acquired EMC in 2016, forming Dell Technologies. The EMC Proven Professional programme became Dell Technologies Proven Professional, and the legacy EMC certification forums are now hosted on Dell's community site.
Why did WAN optimization certifications disappear?
The category was overtaken. WAN optimization solved the problem of moving data efficiently over expensive, high-latency private links. Cheap broadband, SD-WAN, and the shift of traffic toward cloud and SaaS destinations rather than a central data centre removed most of the original rationale.
Is a certification from a smaller vendor worth listing?
It depends on whether the skill behind it transferred. A vendor-neutral foundation such as EMC's Information Storage and Management material aged well because it taught storage concepts broadly. A credential tied tightly to one product category that the market abandoned evidences experience but not current capability.
What does this Legacy Vendor Certifications section cover?
Legacy vendor certifications: Not every retired certification comes from a large vendor with a well-documented history. This section covers credentials from CIW, SAS, EMC and Riverbed, programmes that variously continue unchanged, were absorbed through acquisition, or covered a technology category that the market moved past.