Apple Begins Offering Mountain Lion Training And Certification Options For IT Pros

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Following the launch of Mountain Lion, Apple has started rolling out Mountain Lion IT certifications.
Following the launch of Mountain Lion, Apple has started rolling out Mountain Lion IT certifications.

Apple has launched its first Mountain Lion training guide and certification for IT professionals. The certification is the Mountain Lion edition of the Apple Certified Associate – Mac Integration certification, which can be viewed as the introductory Mac IT certification.

Apple began offering the certification following last year’s launch of Lion. Unlike Apple’s other certification options, Apple provides a free guide to the material on the Mac Integration Basics Exam on its training site. You can also register and take the exam online for $65. Should you fail the exam, Apple will let you retake the exam at no additional charge.

As the name implies, the guide and exam are focused on integrating a Mac into a predominantly Windows environment such as a corporate network. The guide includes information on the following topics.

  • Joining a Mac to an Active Directory domain
  • Connecting to Windows file shares
  • Configuring access to an Exchange Server using Apple Mail, Contacts, and Calendar apps)
  • Setting up POP/IMAP email accounts
  • Connecting to non-Exchange shared contacts and calendar systems
  • Apple’s approach to security including Mountain Lion’s Gatekeeper feature
  • Printer setup and sharing
  • Messaging systems available from the Messages app (including iMessage)
  • Migrating data from a Window PC to a Mac
  • Backups using Time Machine
  • And running Windows on a Mac using Boot Camp

One interesting change is that the Mac Integration Basics 10.8 guidebook is now only available as a PDF. The Lion edition was also available as a free ebook from Apple’s iBookstore.

There is no word about Apple’s plans for other Mac IT certifications at this point. Apple’s certification site still lists the three available Lion Certifications. That list includes the Lion version of this exam as well as the Lion versions of Apple’s OS X Support Essentials and OS X Sever Essentials exams.

We noted earlier this year that Apple has pared down the range of IT certifications that it offers. While it’s possible Apple will do away with the remaning certifications, this one is likely to be available so quickly because it required less content changes and, unlike the other certification exams, it doesn’t include the option for classroom-based training that would need to be updated. Apple typically doesn’t update its certification options and related training materials until a few months after a new OS X release.

Source: Apple

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