What’s Hot! Calix Academy’s Top Five Education Courses

Our customers have spoken! We’ve ranked the most popular courses by attendance over the past six months to give you an idea of the hot topics and technology training our customers are demanding. The results are an interesting mix of premises, access, and service-focused topics, and [spoiler alert] the most popular courses with our customers are around our E7 systems. I asked Aarthi Ram, who heads up our Education and Training Department and the Calix Academy, why these are the most popular, and here’s what she observed.

“A lot of our customers have deployed the E7 systems, and so it’s natural that they want to get their employees up to speed on how to configure the systems, as well as get trained on how to deliver services over them; that’s what a learning path is designed to do.”

So, starting with number five, here are the five hottest education courses.

At number five is “844E GigaCenter Overview.” This online course is popular with technicians and customer care representatives who support managed whole home Wi-Fi services. The course helps them understand how the 844E is installed, activated, and managed with applications like Calix Support Cloud to deliver a managed Wi-Fi service to subscribers. “844E GigaCenter Overview” is often paired with “Wi-Fi Fundamentals” (ranked at #6- see below) and is appealing because it covers deployment best practices as well as troubleshooting tips to help solve problems that subscribers may encounter with their service.

At number four is one of our online technology courses, “Ethernet Access Fundamentals.” It is especially noteworthy because it is technology-focused and product agnostic. It is tailored for technicians and engineers who need to design, troubleshoot, and manage Ethernet access networks. It covers the fundamentals but also includes actionable and usable training on transport concepts, associated protocols, security, and applications like voice, video, and data services that are delivered over Ethernet access networks.

The next three top courses are delivered online and concentrate on the E7-2 Intelligent Modular System and E7-20 Multi-Terabit Access System:

• First place goes to “Introduction to E7”
• Coming in at second place is “Configuring E7 Services”
• And coming third is “Configuring E7 Ethernet Transport”

These courses prepare technicians and engineers for installing, managing, and maintaining the Calix E7 systems. Topics range from basic Ethernet features to more complex concepts like VLANs, traffic tagging, uplink provisioning, node protection, link aggregation, and Ethernet Ring Protection Switching (ERPS). 

I wanted to give an honorable mention to the “Wi-Fi Fundamentals” course, which came in at number six and continues to climb in popularity. Like “Ethernet Access Fundamentals,” it is conveniently delivered online, and its popularity is due to the increasing interest our customers have with Wi-Fi. “Wi-Fi Fundamentals” is popular with technicians and customer service representatives, and covers 802.11 standards and terminology, tips on premise device deployment best practices, measuring performance, optimization using band and node steering, and troubleshooting. We often see it paired with another online course, “804Mesh Satellite Overview,” which provides additional knowledge on how to deliver premium Wi-Fi services and enhance the subscriber experience.

The growing interest in “Wi-Fi Fundamentals” indicates that customers are realizing they need to own the whole home Wi-Fi experience, and to do so requires a deep understanding of the mechanics and best practices of how to deliver and maintain this for their subscribers. Our customers want to understand the things that could impact user experience, and “Wi-Fi Fundamentals” addresses this by covering the tools and insights that Calix solutions provide to prevent or quickly resolve service problems.

One other thing to point out is that our most popular instructor-led course is our “Dedicated Class” offering. Every business is different, and at times one size does not fit all when it comes to training needs. Calix instructors will work with you to develop a bespoke, instructor-led curriculum with hands-on labs that covers the topics that help enhance the skills of your employees. The class is delivered at a time and location that works for you. Whether we meet you on-site or remotely, it is about taking a consultative approach that focuses on your specific deployment needs.

You need to find out what your employees are missing! Our educational learning paths and course descriptions can be viewed online through the MyCalix portal in the Education Services section. If you need a login to MyCalix, go here and register today.