We are a few weeks into our partnership with Inatel that has everyone talking. Why? This pairing provides approximately 800 students of Inatel—a technology-based education and research institution located in Minas Gerais, Brazil—with exclusive access to Ciena’s digital Open Curriculum courses, which was previously only open to our customers and partners alike.

And the timing couldn’t be better, according to president of Ciena in Brazil, Patrícia Vello. "Simplifying the network has become an urgent need for the telecom industry and the solution to this is in the software. To meet the demand for more software centric networks, we need, above all, engineers who understand communication networks and software logic. Therefore, we have undertaken this initiative to promote and stimulate the training of future professionals to prepare them for the challenges of today’s market.”

Ciena's Open Curriculum courses, designed by our experts in Learning Service, offers more than 65 hours of online training in optical, Carrier Ethernet and virtualization technologies. The content is updated continuously, keeping in-step with the rapidly changing industry. The student who completes the most courses between now and the next 6 months will be allowed to take, free of charge, the same online Carrier Ethernet Associate certification course that Ciena offers to the marketplace.

We expect this partnership to have a significant impact on students and the industry as a whole.

It’s a win-win all around!