Certified IT Architect Program Gaining Ground

Since its debut in 2005, over 1,200 individuals have achieved IT Architect Certification, the Open Group, a vendor- and technology-neutral consortium focused on open standards and global interoperability, said on July 18 at its IT Architecture Practitioners Conference in Miami.

The ITAC was developed by the Open Group in response to what it perceived as a growing need for experienced IT architects.

"The attraction is that it is totally vendor-neutral," Allen Brown, president and CEO of the Open Group told eWEEK.

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"It is the industry getting together and reaching a consensus for IT architecture. Both employers and those contracting the services value the neutrality, and the individuals value the portability."

The Open Group, comprised of IT buyers and vendors from companies such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Fujitsu and NASA, sees this as proof that businesses understand the increased need for and importance of experienced IT architects and quality control of their practices, and that a recognized IT architect profession is emerging.

"There is a shortage of enterprise architects today, and you dont know if youre getting what you see on a resume when you hire someone," said Allen.

The ITAC certification is not achieved through an exam, but a peer review of the tech workers resume. Candidates must be practicing enterprise or IT architects with two years experience developing architectures with supervision.

The Open Group and Thomson Prometric also announced July 17 that it is going live with computer-based TOGAF 8 certification testing, a exam based on The Open Group Architecture Framework.

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The TOGAF certification is considered complimentary to ITAC, confirming an individuals knowledge of the TOGAF Architecture Development Method.

The Open Group sees even more growth potential for their architecture certification programs.

"Were going to start pushing the ITAC as a profession and develop an association for professionals," said Allen.

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