07/19/2005

The Open Group, along with other industry leaders including IBM, Hewlett Packard, and Capgemini, announced today that its IT Architect Certification program is "open for business". Experienced IT Architects can now apply for certification in the program. The criteria for applicants are at www.opengroup.org/itac.

The Open Group provided the following details:

Developed in response to the increasing demand for experienced IT architects, the program defines a set of worldwide standards for measuring the skills and experience of IT architects and for the operation of IT architecture practices within enterprises. The Open Group IT Architect Certification program will offer the first independent, comprehensive, global certification for determining the skills, experience and knowledge of a professional IT architect.

"The Open Group's new IT Architect Certification program represents an industry-wide recognition that IT architecture has emerged as a true discipline and is one that makes critical contributions to a modern enterprise. Industry standards for measuring expertise and experience in this area have been long overdue," said Lauren States, Vice President, Technical Sales and Software Group Enablement, IBM Software Group. "The process introduced by The Open Group's IT Architect Certification program will ensure that the industry has the right benchmark for identifying highly skilled and experienced professionals who are experts in this field."

"Certification is important for any profession and it's something that IT Architects have lacked on an industry-wide basis," said Tony Redmond, VP and CTO, HP Services. "Certification provides a comfort feeling for those who want to engage an architect, an indication that the architect is skilled in their profession and understands how to go about solving IT problems in a consistent and reliable manner. Certification further means that standards will be maintained, best practices developed, and the rogue architects who give themselves the title without any grounding in IT architecture concepts and principles will gradually be eliminated from the industry. All in all, certification for IT architects is long overdue and HP is proud to support the Open Group in their initiative to introduce and develop this important program."

"A well-defined IT architecture that supports the needs of the business is highly dependent on ensuring that key employees -- IT architects -- have the required ability, experience and skills, "said Andy Mulholland, Global CTO, Capgemini. "We applaud The Open Group for leading the initiative to create a recognized global standard that will allow organizations to benchmark against these important attributes." "The increasing demand on the world's largest and most influential companies to have the equivalent of a city planning perspective of their extensive IT systems, rather than a piece by piece approach, is driving demand for skilled IT architects," said Allen Brown, President and CEO of The Open Group. "The need to be assured that the architects they hire, or the consultants they retain, have the necessary skills, is the key driver behind IT Architect Certification."