Juniper partners with NSW TAFE to tackle networking skills shortage

Juniper Networks has formed a partnership with the North Sydney Institute (NSI) to help combat the IT skills crisis within the networking sector.

The vendor’s A/NZ enterprise channel director, Brian Allsopp, said there was a growing need for IT professionals equipped with JUNOS experience within its channel partner network as well as the enterprise and government sectors.

“NSI was a good fit to take on Juniper courses and create a Juniper lab at its Meadowbank campus,” he said.

The vendor has trained NSI teachers and supplied J-series routers and EX-series Ethernet switches for the Juniper networking labs, which will be used by students for a more ‘hands on’ experience with its products.

Types of courses to be offered to NSI students include operating Juniper Networks Routers in the enterprise and an advanced version of the course. The vendor also plans to introduce switching courses later on this year.

Allsopp said NSI students and graduates doing IT courses through the TAFE system are the targeted candidates.

“There is great scope for NSI to partner with our channel partners to provide traineeships for graduates and bridge the gap from training to employment,” he said. “This will mean we have more skilled channel partners that can support our growth in the enterprise sector.

“We’ll actively discuss with universities and TAFEs throughout Australia the possibility of more partnerships to teach JUNOS courses and increase the certified professionals in the market place.”