Tyngsboro, MA and Geneva, IL – December 5, 2001 – The Boston University Corporate Education Center (BUCEC), New England’s premier Information Technology and Management Development training provider, announced today it will be offering industry-leading IT security training in response to heightened awareness worldwide around the need for greater enterprise security. BUCEC has inked an agreement to offer Security Certified Program (SCP) courses, a new addition to its industry-leading IT curriculum. SCP is a premier vendor neutral security certification program for Security Certified Network Professionals and Security Certified Network Architects. Security Certified Network Architects are considered to have the highest level of security certification available. BUCEC will begin offering the SCP courses in February.

“Business leaders around the world are calling for tightened security across the enterprise,” said Mozammel Husainy, Director of Information Technology Programs, BUCEC. “One of the effects of staffing cutbacks is that IT professionals are increasingly being asked to address a broad range of functions, including IT security. IT professionals with the skills to protect systems and infrastructure will find they are even more valuable to current and future employers.”

“When you have an infrastructure you can trust, you’re able to remove the friction so typical in most business processes and applications,” said Uday O. Ali Pabrai, co-creator of SCP. “It leads to better ROI on activities that involve customer, supplier and employee access to data and other types of information. It makes sense that corporate executives and others are looking for IT professionals who are proficient in enterprise security.”

Pabrai added, “There’s a push to integrate Internet technology into core business operations and transactions, which requires a secure infrastructure. We’re seeing an unprecedented demand for skilled and certified security professionals, and that’s why we are excited about our partnership with a world-class training organization like the Boston University Corporate Education Center.”

Boston University established the Corporate Education Center in 1986 to bridge the training gap between traditional academic education and industry’s need for employees with up-to-date, real-world skills. Since its inception, BUCEC has helped train more than 100,000 individuals to enter and thrive in the IT profession. Its students represent diverse work backgrounds and experiences, and include people wishing to transition into new careers as well as IT professionals hoping to enhance or augment their current skills.

“SCP is a logical next step if you want to add security skills to your capabilities,” Husainy said. “The SCP structure is unique in that it measures competence in the core skills that are broadly required for both security professionals and security architects, as well as training in specific security technologies like firewalls, IDS, PKI, biometrics and forensics. Thanks to our partnership with SCP, we’re now able to provide our students with the very best training available, from an organization committed to security education.”

For more information about BUCEC’s Security Certified Program Courses, call 1-800-BU-TRAIN (288-7246).

About BUCEC
Established by Boston University in 1986 the Boston University Corporate Education Center (BUCEC) is a complete career training resource that helps individuals acquire and enhance Information Technology and Management skills that enrich their careers. The largest training organization in New England, BUCEC is bridging the training gap between traditional academic education and the skills needed in the rapidly-changing business world today, demonstrating proven, longstanding leadership in the multibillion dollar global training market. BUCEC’s instructors bring unprecedented real-world IT and Management experience into the classroom. BUCEC addresses the complete continuum of learning needs including individual assessment, career guidance, financial aid and job placement. To date, BUCEC has trained more than 100,000 IT professionals and achieved an astonishing 90 percent placement rate for students in its Computer Career Programs and for career transition students, surpassing all rivals. BUCEC won the prestigious CompTIA “Career Awareness Award” in 2001 in recognition of its innovative training programs and student resources. BUCEC is also a Certified Technical Education Center for Microsoft and winner of Microsoft’s “Excellence in Training Award,” making it the only New England institution to be recognized.

About Security Certified Program (SCP)
SCP is an e-learning organization based in Geneva, Illinois with focus on security-related content development. Uday O. Ali Pabrai, Chairman of Ascendant Learning and CEO of ecfirst.com, previously created the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) program and was instrumental in the development of CompTIA’s i-Net+ program. Pabrai is an accomplished expert in e-security technologies in the fields of PKI, biometrics and enterprise network security policy, architecture and systems. SCP is based on real-world experiences at diverse organizations including Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), Elkay Manufacturing, Wells Fargo, U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency and many others. For more information, visit the SCP web site.