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LISBON, ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE PRACTITIONERS CONFERENCE, October 23, 2006 – The Open Group, a vendor- and technology-neutral consortium focused on open standards and global interoperability within and between enterprises, today announced that more than 1,450 individuals have achieved the organization’s IT Architect Certification (ITAC) since it debuted in July, 2005. This number includes IT professionals from a diverse group of globally recognizable enterprises and government organizations, including Bearingpoint, Credit Suisse, EDS, GTECH Corporation, Intel, IBM, Microsoft, New Zealand Inland Revenue and QR Systems. ITAC is the premier global certification program for certifying skills and experience in the enterprise IT architecture community.
"The IT Architecture Certification program is very helpful to Deutsche Post World Net,” said Robert Leaman, head of architecture and technology consulting, Deutsche Post World Net. “Due to the international nature of our business, we need clear standards that define how we work together uniformly whilst being spread over four locations worldwide. The Open Group has given us these clear standards, saving us the work of defining our own, proprietary set. Due to these global standards we can now cooperate more efficiently and can define more exact criteria for recruiting new architects."
Operating under a peer-review model, ITAC certifies IT architects that meet the global open standard developed by members of The Open Group for skills and experience in the field. The program includes direct certification of applicants as well as a process and a set of criteria for accrediting an organization’s internal certification programs. By defining criteria for accrediting certified professionals, it also sets the foundation for establishing a recognized IT architect profession. ITAC is designed for both organizations with large IT architecture practices and individual IT architects working within consulting firms, user organizations or as independent consultants.
"ITAC equips us with an internationally recognized qualification that demonstrates our architecture skills and experience have been independently assessed and verified against a worldwide standard benchmark," said Antonio Mastrolorito, chief IT architect, Lufthansa Cargo.
“IT Architect Certification continues to be endorsed by leading enterprise architecture practices from around the world,” said Allen Brown, president and CEO, The Open Group. “Companies like Lufthansa Cargo and Deutsche Post World Net leverage ITAC because they understand the critical need for effective IT infrastructures that are built on global standards of excellence. More than 1,450 individuals achieving ITAC certification is evidence that enterprise architecture is coming of age.”
Establishing an experience and skill baseline and setting certification criteria for IT architects brings a number of benefits to companies, governments, academic institutions as well as individuals. Through ITAC, organizations gain an industry-wide benchmark for selecting qualified individuals to lead their critical programs as well as verify their status in The Open Group Certification Directory. Companies with accredited internal IT architect programs can gain credibility and increased stature for their programs, while certified professionals get a portable, globally recognized credential. Additionally, academic institutions are able to use the ITAC skills criteria for fine-tuning their IT architecture curricula.
The initial certification cost is $1,250 per individual with a subsequent $175 annual fee for maintaining a listing in the Directory of Certified IT Architects. For complete information about the program, including how to get certified and how to become an accredited partner, go to: http://www.opengroup.org/itac
The Open Group’s Enterprise Architecture Practitioners Conference (formerly IT Architecture Practitioners Conference), now in its third year, is a globally recognized event created by and for enterprise architecture practitioners to examine a wide variety of topics which are impacting the profession. These include service-oriented architecture (SOA), agent technologies, aligning enterprise architecture with business innovation, and evolving the architecture discipline in line with business demand. The conference examines the evolving disciplines of enterprise architecture with a focus on further defining a common set of core competencies for individuals involved with professional enterprise architecture. Additional information is available at: http://www.opengroup.org/events/
The Open Group is a vendor-neutral and technology-neutral consortium, which drives the creation of Boundaryless Information Flow™ that will enable access to integrated information within and between enterprises based on open standards and global interoperability. The Open Group works with customers, suppliers, consortia and other standard bodies. Its role is to capture, understand and address current and emerging requirements, establish policies and share best practices; to facilitate interoperability, develop consensus, and evolve and integrate specifications and open source technologies, to offer a comprehensive set of services to enhance the operational efficiency of consortia; and to operate the industry’s premier certification service. Further information on The Open Group can be found at http://www.opengroup.org.
Note to Editors: TOGAF and Boundaryless Information Flow are trademarks of The Open Group.
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