Compaq Training Course Goes Pro

Vendor adds ASE Professional, a higher accreditation level aimed at increasing skills in the channel

Compaq has upped the ante for its training providers after it introduced a higher level of accreditation for its systems engineers.

The Accredited Systems Engineer (ASE) programme, which was previously the highest level of Compaq accreditation available, has been superseded by the ASE Professional course. The move comes as Compaq tries to strengthen the level of training available to resellers and users.

All Compaq training is handled by third- party authorised training centres (ATCs), Azlan, QA Training and Harley West, QA will be the only one looking after the ASE Professional accreditation. The ASE Professional is a pan-European scheme aimed at resellers in the larger corporate account market. It will address mission-critical applications along with internet and intranet products.

Paul Gardner, Compaq customer services director, said the vendor was rolling out 31 additional courses, most of them geared around the ASE Professional scheme. ?We are working to drive increased levels of competency as far and as fast into the channel as possible. Due to Compaq?s growth, in terms of both product range and market share, we have decided to be more closely involved with the work of our ATCs.?

Barrie Charles, head of marketing at QA Training, described QA as ?helping the channel to help the customer?.

?Compaq is looking for its channel to take on more and more skills,? he said. ?This sort of training can be a major investment for the reseller channel, but you have to gain Compaq accreditation to be able to sell the high-end product.?

Compaq has not ruled out the possibility of recruiting more ATCs and said it has no fixed idea for a number of trainers providing Compaq courses.

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