There's a nice article in Business Week this week describing how Macs are becoming more and more likely to turn-up in the enterprise, how little Apple does for this to happen (or needs to do, given that it's not really a market that they pursue), and how CTOs/CIOs are finding them easy to integrate with little additional overhead or costs. The pull quote?

"Steve Jobs doesn't need a sales force because he already has one: employees like the ones in my company."

Well, tomorrow (February 19th) will be my first time teaching Mac OS X 201, Server Essentials 10.5. I've got the required test score, I've got the teaching certification, I've got the AATC, and I've got the students. I've been preparing for actual presentation of this class since last Tuesday morning, and the fact is that I'm co-teaching with another Apple Certified Trainer.

So, why am I so jittery about the process? Well, it's a big deal to me, as it's very important to me that my customers receive the training they deserve plus I have to travel hundreds of miles and be away from my family for days at a time to do this.

To my St. Louis customers and colleagues, I'll be out the rest of this week. Have a great week, and I'll see you during the following one. In the meantime, please wish me luck!

Early in December, Apple Certified Trainers representing Apple Authorized Training Centers around the world descended upon Austin, Texas for two weeks. Did they choose to do so during prime Christmas present shopping season because of Austin's retail offerings? While several of them were seen shopping at The Domain, they actually were at Apple's facilities in Austin to participate in beta training sessions for Mac OS X Support Essentials v10.5 (Mac OS 101) & Mac OS X Server Essentials v10.5 (Mac OS 201).

About 40 trainers attended, and got to know their neighbors pretty well after having to attend the classes together for two weeks straight. During their time there, in addition to taking the class as students, they worked on editing and perfecting the course's textbooks, student workbooks, and presenter's slides. Since that time, Peachpit Press has actually brought those textbooks to market and Apple has updated the training and certification websites to reflect the new content contained in the courses. At the end of each week's class, each student trainer all took beta versions of the official certification tests. Provided that the test taker passed the score at the "instructor" level, s/he is now (1) certified with the Apple Certified Support Professional 10.5 and/or the Apple Certified Technical Coordinator 10.5 and (2) authorized to provide these courses to students. Another noteworthy new development is that participating AATCs are now able to offer Apple Certification tests onsite, although students can also continue to take the tests at Prometric testing centers.

Be on the lookout for these new courses, tests, and certifications in February at your local Apple Authorized Training Center across the globe.