Almost three years after the launch of Cisco's Master Security accreditation, telecoms giant BT has become the first firm to be awarded the badge.

The networking vendor unveiled the Master certification in 2006, with Security and Unified Communications being the inaugural offerings. A Master Managed Services accreditation was launched at Cisco's partner summit in Boston earlier this year.

Until now five UK partners had gained the UC Master thumbs-up: Logicalis, Dimension Data, 2e2, Touchbase Communications and KCOM. Previously, no UK VAR had gained the security badge, despite top level partners expressing interest in working towards it.

Earlier this summer Cisco's UK and Ireland channel director Bernadette Wightman reiterated the vendor's commitment to the accreditation. She also told CRN she expected the UK's first Security Master to be crowned before the end of this year.

Cisco's online Partner Locator confirms BT has now gained both the Security and UC Master certifications. The telecoms giant becomes the sixth UK partner to gain the UC accreditation and the very first to win Master Security approval. BT and Cisco are currently unavailable for comment, but follow Channelweb for developments.