The Cisco Networking Academy, which for nearly a decade has partnered with the educational community to help people worldwide realize the dream of a better life by teaching valuable networking and IT skills, recently commissioned an International Data Corporation (IDC) study to get a clear picture of the demand and supply of networking technology skills across Asia-Pacific. It is the most comprehensive regional study done to measure the skills and supply gap for networking technology competency. [SEE ACCOMPANYING REPORT AFTER THIS ARTICLE.]
The study states that there will be a shortage of 221,000 people with advanced networking technology skills in wireless security and IP telephony in the region by 2009.
Results show the Philippines ranked 4th in Asia-Pacific in terms of total networking skills gap in 2006, is short of 1,300 networking professionals. This shortage is expected to increase to 2,400 by 2009.
Considering that the network is becoming the platform for all communications and IT, the economy will be at a disadvantage if the skills gap continues to grow.
Cisco announced an evolution of the core Networking Academy curriculum to keep pace with the swiftly changing requirements of an increasingly connected world and the growing demand for a technically skilled workforce in a competitive global marketplace. These new courses will focus on providing students the skills to pursue rewarding IT careers in business-critical positions and industries ranging from technology, finance, to medicine and entertainment.
The Cisco Networking Academy is now available in 25 countries in the Asia-Pacific region and 164 globally. Since the program’s inception in the Philippines in 1998, over 116,000 students have been trained by more than 800 instructors in 143 Cisco Academies in the country. For more info, click on www.cisco.com/go/netacad
ACCOMPANYING REPORT:
Staffing Asia-Pacific’s Growing Networking Infrastructure:
Are Organizations in for a Challenge?
By Sureshpal Singh and Walter Lee (November 2006)
Study sponsored by Cisco Systems (USA)
Executive Summary of the White Paper which is based on a data survey of more than 1,000 middle to senior management respondents in the Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) APEJ region and IDC’s proprietary IT skills model.
It shows that organizations may again face an increasing shortage of people with networking skills. While shortages were found to be lower than those predicted before the onset of the economic downturn in the first half of this decade, the demand for networking skills currently outstrips supply and will continue to do so throughout the forecast period unless a paradigm shift occurs in the supply of networking skills in the region.
Total networking skills. Overall, IDC estimates a shortage of people with networking skills across the APEJ region of about 2,100,000 in 2006, increasing to 396,000 by 2009. These figures represent skill gaps as a proportion of total demand of 19% in 2006 and 23% in 2009. The number of skilled people is based on IDC’s proprietary skills model, which calculates the full time equivalents (FTEs). For the skilled people estimation above, IDC utilized the assumption that people on average spend 70% of their time working with networking technology.
Advanced network technology skills. This refers to skills in the area of networking security and new network developments such as IP telephony (IPT) and wireless networking. When considering advanced skills (wireless, VoIP, and security), IDC estimates a skilled people shortage of about 113,000 in 2007 growing to 221,000 in 2009. These figures represent advanced skills gaps as a proportion of advanced skills demand of 22% in 2006 and 26% in 2009. The rapid adoption of these technologies by organizations throughout the region will drive demand for these skills and growth of the gap at a CAGR of 27% from 2005 to 2009.
Datacenter and cross-technology skills. More than 65% of respondents see these as becoming more important in the future – only overtaken by advanced technology skills. This is a clear indication of the growing importance of networking technology as a platform for supporting critical line-of-business systems, applications, and repositories of data that is found in enterprise datacenters around the region. With the blurring of traditional lines, the networking skill is expected in many organizations in today’s context to possess cross-technology skills rather than operate in a completely distinct environment with clear lines of delineation.
In the development economies grouping (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam), IDC estimates the gap between supply and demand for networking professionals will reach 13,000 by the end of 2006 and rise to 25,000 by 2009, representing skill gaps of 13 percent in 2006 and 18 in 2009. As a sub-regional grouping the total skills gap falls in the middle of the range of the three sub-regional groupings, with a lower total skills gaps than in India and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and a higher gap than the mature economies in APEJ.
In the large growth markets grouping (the PRC and India), IDC forecasts that strong economic development and a voracious local and global demand for IT related professionals will lead to a large total skills gap in the future. In the PRC, IDC estimates the skills gap will reach 107,100 (or 23%) by the end of 2006, growing to 192,300 (28%) by 2009. In India, the gap will reach 59,300 (20%) by 2006, climbing to 137,200 (26%) by 2009.
In the mature/maturing economies grouping (Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore), IDC forecasts the skilled gaps in this country grouping will be lower than the regional average, reflective of where these countries are in the development cycle. IDC estimates the skilled people gap for networking professionals in this group will reach about 31,000 (11%) in 2006, rising to 41,000 (12%) by 2009.
Changing role of the network. According to IDC’s research, 96% of respondents across the region believe their networking infrastructure will become more important to their organizations in the future.
Vendor certification. IDC research found that increasing numbers of organizations view vendor-based certification as an important attribute when assessing potential staff to fill networking-related positions. Of those surveyed, 33% said such certifications are “very important” with a further 55%, indicating they were “relatively important.” |
