Although a recent survey turned up more than 100 certification programs and a total of more than 750 certification credentials, only a small number of specific programs and topics account for the majority of individual certifications earned each year. These programs include the following, each of which is covered in a later section in this part of the Guide:

Microsoft Certifications: With more than 2 million individuals certified across its many programs, Microsoft leads the industry in IT certification.

CompTIA Certifications: As an important source of base or entry-level vendor-neutral credentials, and with nearly three-quarters of a million certified individuals altogether, the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is also an important player in IT certifications.

Cisco Certifications: As the fastest-growing and one of the most populous (about one-half million certified individuals) and popular collections of IT certification programs around, Cisco Systems offers a broad range of credentials on a wide array of topics and technologies.

Oracle Certifications: As one might expect from the leading database management systems purveyor, Oracle also leads the industry in database certifications. It covers job roles for database administrators, forms developers, and web administrators.

Novell Certifications: As the company that pioneered modern IT certification and training programs (with more than 700,000 certified individuals), Novells offerings remain potent and popular in todays marketplace.

Sun Microsystems Certifications: With certification programs for its popular Java programming language and related technologies and for its Solaris implementation of UNIX, Sun boasts a sizable collection of certification programs and an equally sizable number of certified individuals (about one-half million and growing).

Information Security Certifications: Although no clear market leader exists in this exciting and fast-growing technical area because its garnering so much interest and attention in the IT world, we briefly survey this certification landscape and point to some of its most prominent features.

Linux Certifications: Linux is becoming increasingly popular in the IT marketplace because of its features, stability, and, well, because its not a Microsoft product. Even though it does not have nearly the market share that Windows products still enjoy, Linux is becoming a serious competitor. We cover three major players in the Linux game that have garnered considerable attention. By examining the offerings, requirements, costs, and other characteristics of this relatively small but important sampling of certification programs, one can gain an excellent understand of how such programs work and whats involved in participating in them. To that end, we take a quick look at each of them, with pointers to a plethora of related resources for each one as well.