Resource Library

Ask any executive today about digital transformation and they’ll likely tell you about their organization’s plans to integrate cutting-edge technologies. 

Microsoft Copilot is an intelligent assistant integrated within Microsoft Teams, designed to help you automate routine tasks and manage your workload more effectively. By leveraging AI and machine learning, Copilot can handle repetitive processes, provide smart suggestions, and enhance team collaboration, all within the familiar Teams interface.

As is frequently the case these days, I get a brainstorm for an article during a Cisco Security training class I conduct. This summer I taught the Securing Networks with ASA Fundamentals class, which concentrates heavily on the Adaptive Security Device Manager (ASDM)...

As is sometimes the case, the idea for this article originated with a student question I received during one of the Securing Networks with ASA Fundamentals classes I have taught this summer. The course material mentions a simple scenario whereby IP Telephony traffic...

I attended a meeting this week with a customer of mine and a potential new vendor. The new vendor was there to pitch his configuration and setup service offerings for a specific ITSM toolset. My customer has already had one bad experience with an ITSM tool configuration vendor who promised one thing and delivered much less. He ended up with a tool that’s minimally used and not configured to match his business needs. He’s looking for a vendor that can understand his business needs and priorities and quickly help him get his tool configured and working in a short time frame. Then the topic of standard changes came up. My customer asked for examples of standard changes. The vendor responded, “Server reboots are an example of standard changes.”

If you want to stay relevant as an IT professional, you have two choices: evolve your current skills or make a big change.

With Microsoft SQL Server 2016, you can distribute your data to the cloud using the Stretch Database feature to improve local access while allowing cloud access to large amounts of historical data. You can also provide transparent end-to-end security using Always Encrypted technology and track changes automatically through temporal data. Download this white paper to learn why these features and more make SQL Server 2016 Microsoft's most important release to date.

The tools described in this white paper are essential PM tools. Tools that will best be used, regardless of the project, are the WBS, communication model, and the precedence diagram. The other tools will be needed depending on the project.

Constant change in the technology landscape has been mirrored by the steady evolution of information security. The current information system environment is increasingly complex, comprising storage, servers, LANs/WANs, workstations, Unified Communications, Intranet, and Internet connections.

For those that want to take their first steps towards Ansible adoption, Red Hat Training has developed several courses to teach you better ways to automate administrative tasks and use Red Hat Ansible Engine effectively, as well as how to leverage advanced features of Ansible to perform more complex tasks. This webinar will highlight the benefits to using Ansible to automate tasks across a variety of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Windows, cloud, and networking devices. View the slide deck>>

The ITIL® framework continues to grow and adapt. With the release of ITIL® (Version 5), organizations can access enhanced guidance while building on their existing investments. This is not a reset. It is a thoughtful evolution designed to support the way teams work today and tomorrow.

Project procurement activities are often managed by specialists. By this I mean that the procurement department takes over responsibility for purchasing and contract management from the project manager. As a result of this separation of responsibilities, the steps and stages of procurement are often poorly understood by PMs. In this and the next few blog submissions, I will attempt to shed light on procurement activities and relate these activities to the PMI PMBOK.

The Global Knowledge IT Skills and Salary Report is a window into the inner workings of IT departments, revealing insights and opinions held by professionals around the world. For 10 years, we have surveyed over 120,000 men and women in IT about the state of the industry. With a decade of data at our fingertips, we analyzed 10 years’ worth of reports and noticed four major trending areas: certifications, salaries, cloud computing and cybersecurity. 

Value stream mapping can be a dramatically transformational event – expanding empathy across teams, sharing points of view, and solving gaps in understanding which may be robbing everyone of productivity. This webinar will quickly equip attendees with a high-level understanding of value stream mapping and will teach practical tips on how to run a value stream mapping exercise within their teams and organizations.

In this hour-long webinar, IT service management expert Nasser El-Batal will introduce you to the TOGAF framework. You will learn about its business benefits, critical factors for implementation success, and TOGAF's relationship to and integration with other best practices.

AWS is an incredibly rich ecosystem of services and tools, some of which have security aspects baked in (like S3 SSE), and others that provide overarching security capabilities (like IAM and VPC) that apply to many services. With regard to data storage, operating system, and applications, security functions largely the same in the cloud or on-premises software. Customers can and should continue to follow best practices that have served them well in their own data centers.

As cloud platforms provide ever greater infrastructure capability, automating and managing infrastructure is becoming critical to our strategy and process. Tooling environments are also heavily impacted. Tools like Terraform, configuration automation tools (Chef, Ansible, etc.) and cloud-native infrastructure solutions completely change cost models and workflows. This presentation is an introduction to infrastructure automation in the cloud, a few popular automation tools, and how to tie automation to larger cloud (and business) strategy.

Amazon Redshift opens up enterprise data warehouse (EDW) capabilities to even the smallest of businesses, yet its costs, security, and flexibility also make it appealing to the largest of enterprises. It allows companies to easily and conveniently scale their EDW needs both up and down, and as a managed service, it allows your team to offload all of the "undifferentiated heavy lifting" of building and maintaining an EDW. Its raw storage costs are about one-fifth to one-tenth of traditional in-house EDW, and AWS has taken great care to ensure its performance is still competitive with those in-house solutions. Before deciding to use Amazon Redshift, however, it's important to understand what it is and is not.

With Forrester Research declaring "Waterfall processes have become obstacles to speed, quality and predictability," and more than 85% of CIO's surveyed by CIO Magazine using or planning to pursue Agile practices in 2014, this one-hour webinar will explore the basics of Agile and why so many organizations are adopting Agile methods.

Learn the fundamentals of technology with Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA) training. Designed for business professionals who work with technology and IT professionals looking for cross-training, MTA courses provide a foundational technology education in topics such as networking, security, software development, Windows OS and more. Three days of intensive training will get you on the right track to working effectively in the ever-changing IT industry.

Getting a clear understanding of what Amazon Web Services (AWS) is and how it can help your business can be a daunting task. The depth and breadth of AWS is significant, comprising over 100 services in dozens of data centers located in 16 Regions throughout the globe (with five more in the works). They offer computing, storage, networking, deployment, management, and a host of "supporting" services like queues, serverless functions, and e-mail. There's a great chance that AWS has more than a few products to help you work faster, smarter, and more cost effectively. So, where should you start?

Amazon Web Services: An OverviewThere's a really good chance that Amazon Web Services (AWS) has more than a few products to help you work faster, smarter, and more cost effectively. After all, the depth and breadth of AWS is significant, comprising more than 30 services in dozens of data centers located in nine regions across the globe. They offer computing, storage, networking, deployment, management, and a host of supporting services, such as queues and email services. Getting a clear understanding of what AWS is and how it can help your business can be challenging. Never fear. In this hour-long webinar, Global Knowledge instructor and cloud and big data analyst Rich Morrow will help. He'll give an overview of AWS and its many benefits.

The subject of this week’s post was actually prompted by a question from a former colleague.  Soon after the PIX Firewall added support for IPSec Virtual Private Networks, a command was added to the command-line, sysopt connection permit-ipsec. This command was subse...

Businesses today are more dependent on technology than ever. And, more than ever, they're looking to IT for ways to improve employee productivity, customer service and innovation. The challenge is that in order to achieve results with technology, IT and the business have to work collaboratively. IT needs to be able to develop the right relationships and communicate with different stakeholders from a business perspective - not a technical one. As a result, the transformation of the IT department has become a top-level priority for many leading organizations. At the same time, business leaders need to strengthen their business technology IQ and play a more significant role in the governance of IT.

What is the role of data, AI, and analytics in mitigating the risks of COVID-19 to the workplace or public space? COVID-19 represents new risks for organizations as workers return physically to their jobs, and as people return to public spaces. Based on the presenter’s recent interviews with several organizations, along with decades of experience delivering applied AI solutions, this talk reviews the latest thinking about how some organizations are tackling this difficult problem, and includes demonstrations of some new approaches. View the slide deck>

What is Network Time Protocol (NTP)? Well, it’s a network protocol used to synchronize clocks between computing systems over a packet switched network. It’s been around since the mid-1980s and was developed by David Mills at the University of Delaware; it is one of the oldest protocols still around on the Internet. NTP replaced other time synchronization technologies that didn’t have some capabilities to adjust time based on location of the time source or time server relative to the receiver or adjusting to the variation of delay found on typical data networks.

When Global Knowledge and ctc TrainCanada joined forces in August 2017, Global Knowledge added Concept Training, an innovative and industry-leading training methodology, to course deliveries. Going forward, when you take a Microsoft Office course with us, you’ll get to experience our Concept Training methodology. But what does that really mean?

As organizations embark on agile initiatives, business analysts can serve a critical role in ensuring the success of those initiatives. This one-hour webinar will explore why business analysts embody core values and skills to thrive in an agile world. In this one-hour webinar, you will learn: Common myths about agile and business analysis, Agile roles for business analysts, BA skills for succeeding in an agile world, and Maximizing value – at the core of the BA role

There is a reason why Agile training methods are becoming mainstream. They can work! Although every Agile practice is not necessarily appropriate for every organization, each practice has delivered real value to many organizations, and some Agile practices can be used by anyone!

This hour-long, information-packed webinar will provide tips and tricks for modifying and optimizing router path selection with EIGRP and OSPF. You will learn about EIGRP redistribution, including redistributing static routes into EIGRP, and about OSPF redistribution. You'll learn about using route maps and prefix lists and about summarization with EIGRP and OSPF. Also, you will receive tips for controlling updates and path selection.

Watch the second installment of this 2-part webinar series and learn how to build and troubleshoot even more formulas and advanced functions. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced user looking for some extra or new tips, this is a webinar you don’t want to miss. Part 2 part will show you how to – Array Formulas Subtotal Formulas More date and time functions Concatenate vs. Flash Fill Index and Match vs. VLookup Variations of the Round Function View Part 1 here > Recommended Excel Courses: Microsoft Excel- Level 1/ Intro (2010, 2013, 2016)Microsoft Excel - Level 2 / Med (2010, 2013, 2016)Microsoft Excel 2010 - Level 3 / AdvancedMicrosoft Excel 2013 - Level 3 / AdvancedMicrosoft Excel 2016 - Level 3 / AdvancedPower BI Fundamentals for End Users-2016

Watch this 1-hour recorded webinar and learn how to build and troubleshoot formulas and master advanced functions. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced user looking for some extra or new tips, this is a webinar you don’t want to miss. Part 1 of this 2 part series will show you how to – Understand Mathematical Operators Use AutoFunctions Use Relative and Absolute References Explore the Function Ribbon Use the Insert Function Wizard & Dialog Box Use Basic Text, Financial, Date, & Logical Functions Name and Use Ranges of Cells in Formulas Trace and Remove Trace Arrows Use a Watch Window View Part 2 here > Recommended Excel Courses Microsoft Excel- Level 1/ Intro (2010, 2013, 2016)Microsoft Excel - Level 2 / Med (2010, 2013, 2016)Microsoft Excel 2010 - Level 3 / AdvancedMicrosoft Excel 2013 - Level 3 / AdvancedMicrosoft Excel 2016 - Level 3 / AdvancedPower BI Fundamentals for End Users-2016

Global Knowledge Course Director and Lab Topology Architect Joey DeWiele, a specialist in Unified Communications, explains the difference between our Cisco Unified Communications courses - ACUCW1 & ACUCW2.

In any operational data center, it is critical to have the highest degree of visibility on network traffic for operations and application troubleshooting. In this white paper, we discuss how to achieve optimal visibility of any type of application traffic with Cisco Application Centric Architecture, or ACI.

Watch John Walter, Solution Architect for Red Hat's Training and Certification team as he discusses the emergence of radically simple Ansible automation and answers your questions.

The CCNAX - CCNA Routing and Switching Boot Camp is a great option to obtain Cisco Routing and Switching skills while pursuing the CCNA Routing and Switching certification. 

This Microsoft and Global Knowledge 1-hour webinar event gives you an overview to the different Microsoft solutions for managing security in your organization. Explore how Microsoft provides a holistic approach to security, helping you to protect identities, data, applications, and devices across on-premises, cloud, and mobile.

Learn the ITIL® concepts of accountability, boundaries, and consistency (the ABCs) and discover how ITIL helps establish, manage, and maintain the ABCs.

This paper proposes a unifying model for project plans. A distinction will be made between the outputs of project planning and the project plan itself. The significance of this distinction is to allow projects of all types to be described at a high level, in a common language, regardless of the type of analysis used to develop the plan.

Resource management is always an issue in any project, especially when the stakeholders from whom we need time have operational duties to perform.  If our requirements team was at our disposal 100 percent, always completed activities on target, and worked a full eight hour day without distraction or a loss of productivity, then estimating time would be simple. In this paper, we explore standard approaches to time estimation, the dangers of multi-tasking, and estimation alternatives, which consider work habits and productivity norms.

The amount of data being produced does not seem to show any sign of slowing; if anything, it may in fact be exceeding projected growth rates. As these absolute limitations on raw hardware capacity begin to be felt, the importance of looking at all of the aspects of a computing infrastructure in order to tackle the future's truly large-scale computing demands, is imperative. This white paper examines how IBM's initiatives like Linux, Cloud Manager with OpenStack and the OpenPower Foundation IBM are meeting this challenge.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) created a cloud definition that has been well-accepted across the IT industry. NIST was mandated to assist government agencies to adopt cloud computing for their IT operations. As part of their mandate, NIST created multiple working groups to define cloud computing, its architecture, and requirements. In this paper we explore the center core of NIST's cloud definition.

How can organizations in diverse industries continue to use familiar waterfall practices and at the same time be more agile? The answer is to use program management that is designed to be agile.

The process of subnetting is both a mathematical process and a network design process. Mathematics drives how subnets are calculated, identified, and assigned. The network design and requirements of the organization drive how many subnets are needed and how many hosts an individual subnet needs to support. Binary basics and IPv4 address structure were covered in part one of this two-part paper.

End of year IT project spending has a higher chance of failure. Instead, invest your funds in the resources that manage and own the technology—your people. Learn how to choose the best IT training company for you at the last minute..

Managing the change of DataStage components can often become a test of wills. Picture fitting a square peg in a round hole, and you might start to get the idea. The complexity of what is required to promote components from one environment to another during the development, testing, and eventual implementation in the production environments, should be and is often a controlled activity.

Nearly every WebSphere administrator has desired a deeper understanding of how passwords are created, used, stored, and encrypted. Learn about the different types of passwords used inside of the WebSphere Application Server and the recovery plans to help restore your server when passwords go awry.

When a decision matters, there are certain steps you will want to follow. In this white paper, we provide guidelines for approaching decisions. The steps in this white paper are a series of interconnected techniques used in problem analysis and decision making.

You know you need to invest in training, but how do you get the best return on investment (ROI) from your training dollars? To help you make smart training decisions, we've put together this guide, which illustrates some alternative and little-known payment options, the types of discounts and promotions available with training and a suggested list of courses that give you excellent value.

You have earned a CompTIA certification. The next step is to ensure that your certification remains current and valid. Some certifications are good for life, while others require renewal. Let’s look at what certifications require renewal, the options that you have for maintaining your certifications, and steps to get it done.

This Certification Prep Guide provides an overview of the current CompTIA Cloud+ certification and offers helpful tips that you can use when preparing for your CompTIA Cloud+ certification exam.

This Certification Prep Guide provides an overview of the current AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate certification and offers helpful tips that you can use when preparing for your AWS Architect certification exam.

This Certification Prep Guide provides an overview of the current MCSE: Cloud Platform and Infrastructure certification and offers helpful tips that you can use when preparing for your MCSE certification exam.

This Certification Prep Guide provides an overview of the current Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Certified Data Engineer certification and offers helpful tips that you can use when preparing for your GCP certification exam.

This Certification Prep Guide provides an overview of the current Google Certified Professional Cloud Architect certification and offers helpful tips that you can use when preparing for your GCP certification exam.

This Certification Prep Guide provides an overview of the current Project Management Professional (PMP)® certification and offers helpful tips that you can use when preparing for your PMP certification exam.

This guide provides an overview of the Security+ certification, including who the certification is for, how to earn and maintain it, the positive impact that it will have on your career, and options for advancement following your Security+ certification.

As an IT security leader, you understand the importance of having and following corporate policies to protect and defend your systems and the assets that they retain. You and your security team work diligently to know the latest threats, prepare for possible intrusion, and harden your network.

Those who have never trained in a virtual classroom, or haven’t trained in one for years, may have some pre-conceived notions about online training – many of which are either wrong or out-of-date. To dispel any misconceptions, let’s explore eight common myths of virtual training and the truth behind each.

Since Google favors LinkedIn when it comes to search results, keep that in mind if you're networking or job hunting. If a potential employer considers you for a position, don't think they aren't Googling you too.

If your organization has upgraded to Office 2016 or Office 365, you now have access to Excel 2016. Now what? Are there any new features? The answer is yes, especially if you need business intelligence tools and new ways to present your data.

In this series, we are looking at six things that can trip up project managers. We’ve covered the hazards of overcommitting, how to provide feedback, the importance of taking responsibility, staying focused, and what leading from the front can actually look like. Finally, we’ll take a look at handling team input.

Here are six tips to ensure you’re investing your time in quality and credible resources.

A Project Manager Professional (PMP) is an individual who has earned an industry-recognized project manager certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI). 

Behind various Google services lies the powerful Cloud AI, a neural net-based, machine learning technology that Google has perfected for use with services like image search and voice recognition. Here are five ways you could use Cloud AI to improve your business.

In this hands-on demonstration, you observe the configuration of IMS, Internet, SOS, and Admin DNN objects (Data Networks Name). These DNNs will then be assigned to several slice descriptors, showing how geography enters into slice implementation. You will then watch the slice configured on a working 5G network. View slide deck>>

5G is the next-generation of mobile networks beyond the 4G LTE mobile networks existing today. The vision of 5G is becoming clearer and most experts say 5G will feature network speeds that are blazingly fast at 20 Gbps or higher and have low latency at mere milliseconds. Companies that can convince their staff to embrace what 5G is trying to do, will reap continuous deployment, incrementally adding new capabilities at the pace of a new “G” per year, but without the pain of each giant leap to convert from one G to the next.

As we gear up to celebrate Microsoft’s 50-year anniversary with Microsoft AI Skills Fest, a 50-day event dedicated to equipping everyone with the skills needed to thrive in the AI economy, there’s no better time to dive into the world of AI with Microsoft Copilot.

There’s undeniably good news for Citrix-certified IT professionals this year. Pursuing at least one Citrix certification has the potential to unlock a host of benefits ranging from above average salaries to greater prestige in the workplace thanks to improved knowledge and capabilities resulting from certifications. Simply put: Citrix certifications pay big dividends according to the Global Knowledge 2019 IT Skills and Salary Report.

The field of cybersecurity is growing, and it is no wonder. Global Knowledge’s 2020 IT Skills and Salary Report confirms the value of security experts, with those functioning in the Cybersecurity/IT Security field in the U.S. reporting an average annual wage of $153,655. Here’s an exclusive Security+ certification profile.

IT is everywhere. The advent of the Internet of Things (IoT), expansion of data capabilities and storage, and broad access to wireless services have pushed IT into virtually every aspect of our lives. From appliances and televisions to tablets and smartphones, people are more connected than ever.

The 2018 Global Knowledge IT Skills and Salary Report has been released and you can download your copy now. We surveyed over 16,000 IT professionals around the world and asked them to provide insights into training, salaries, job satisfaction, certifications and much more. As a result, our annual report is one of the most comprehensive in the industry, while providing the clearest picture of worldwide IT departments.

This webinar provides a step-by-step walkthrough of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform courses and certifications that are currently being offered by Global Knowledge. We’ll talk about the key audiences, required steps, what the learner needs to know and review the entire portfolio. View the slide deck>

This article addresses non-technical skills you need to do to be a success in IT.

The debate on the value of certification is over. Certifications matter—now more than ever.

Global Knowledge is your partner when deciding which learning solution is the best fit for you and your organization, supporting your team throughout the process. Talk with us now to learn what you should consider when evaluating solutions.

Here are five date points from the 2020 IT Skills and Salary Report that illustrate important trends in professional development, skills gaps, hiring and top-paying certifications.

There exists a need to properly read, deploy, and examine the results of Group Policy. By its architecture, Group Policy Deployment to the Clients or Servers can be erratic and latent, or even non-existent throughout your Enterprise Organization, frustrating Administrators who are rolling out the Group Policy to Client or Server computers. To help mitigate this behavior, I compiled these insights into a two part series from real-world examples, experiences, and fixes that have worked for me. I know that these Tips and Tricks will work for you, too.

Here are four tips to make sure you’re taking full advantage of your investment in the Ultimate IT Skills Collection.