This is very much dependent upon the vendor. Certification programs that we've looked at will typically require at least one technical person [to be] certified. More and more, we're seeing that vendors want a technical and a sales person certified. Within the technical end of [certification], you may have tiers, so there may be multiple tiers of certification that are available within a given vendor's product suite. Or take Microsoft, for example -- a company or an individual can hold multiple certifications across different disciplines.
The prevailing model is that you need at least one person who is technically certified, and from my perspective that makes a great deal of sense. You've got to be able to ensure your end customers that you can properly support the technology you're recommending. And we're starting to see requirements for sales-based certification as well, so that you understand how to position and sell the technology, to make sure that you are truly meeting the customer's need and not over- or under-selling a given technology.
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