Important CCIE Update

Cisco CCIE Training Update

This is a special notification for NC-Expert’s CCIE Candidates.

We have learned from Cisco that it expects to refresh its entire portfolio in February 2020.

We strongly urge all CCIE Candidates to prepare to complete their studies and sit their respective lab exams by the end of 2019, latest.

We understand that there will be limited opportunity for Candidates to sit lab exams in the early weeks of 2020, however these seats will be severely limited.

For candidates anticipating completing their studies, please contact us at your earliest convenience so we can conclude our part in your training.

NC-Expert cannot be held liable if Candidates choose to delay completion of their training because, at this time, Cisco has provided no information about its continued instructor-led offerings.

As a result, NC-Expert cannot confirm that it will be able to continue to offer Cisco’s own instructor-led CCIE training after February 2020.

The post Important CCIE Update appeared first on NC Expert.

NC-Expert Blog

Wi-Fi Myth Series - Myth #18: 6 GHz Means RF Design Doesn’t Matter Anymore

By Rie Morgan • October 20, 2026
 More spectrum, fewer headaches? If only RF engineering were that simple. There's something undeniably exciting about 6 GHz Wi-Fi... after years of squeezing increasingly demanding networks into the crowded 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, engineers finally have access to a substantial amount of additional spectrum. More channels. Less legacy interference. Wider channel options. It's almost enough to make a Wi-Fi engineer believe that life is about to get easier! Well, almost... because somewhere between the marketing presentations and the real-world deployment, a dangerous assumption has emerged: with all that extra spectrum, careful RF design isn't nearly as important anymore. Unfortunately, nobody informed the laws of physics.

Wi-Fi Myth Series - Myth #17: Wi-Fi Security Ends with WPA3

By Rie Morgan • October 14, 2026
 Protecting the wireless connection is only part of protecting the network. WPA3 was a welcome advancement in wireless security. Stronger authentication, improved protection against password guessing, and more robust cryptographic mechanisms gave Wi-Fi engineers plenty of reasons to celebrate. And rightly so. But, somewhere along the way, an interesting assumption crept into the conversation: if a network uses WPA3, it must be secure. Well… not quite. WPA3 is an important security mechanism, but it isn't a complete security strategy. It protects specific aspects of wireless communication, but not every device, user, configuration, or operational decision involved in running a wireless network. And, as experienced Wi-Fi engineers know, trouble rarely confines itself to one convenient layer of the network.

Wi-Fi Myth Series - Myth #16: The Controller Knows Best

By Rie Morgan • October 7, 2026
A beautiful dashboard doesn't necessarily mean a beautiful network. There is something wonderfully reassuring about a wireless LAN controller dashboard: everything is neatly organized; access points are green; clients are connected; channel assignments look sensible; the controller reports that Radio Resource Management (RRM) is optimizing the environment; and the health score is sitting comfortably in the high nineties.... life is good. Uhmm... except that users are complaining about dropped calls, sluggish applications, and mysterious connectivity problems. But the dashboard says everything is fine! Welcome to Wi-Fi Myth #16: The Controller Knows Best. Modern wireless controllers are remarkably sophisticated. They collect enormous amounts of information, automate complex decisions, and provide visibility that engineers could only dream of a couple of decades ago. But there's an important distinction between collecting information and understanding what's actually happening in the RF environment... and that's where things get interesting.