Ascolta

If it weren’t for a couple of major items, Ascolta probably would have had an overall score of ⁷⁄₁₀. However, these items are (in my customer mind) major cardinal sins for a professional training company to commit. On the other hand, if it weren’t for a specific individual on the Ascolta team, they could just have easily scored below a ²⁄₁₀.
I’ve attended several Cisco classes at the Ascolta San Jose location:
IDS/​IPS V5.0 December 2006
CS-​MARS February 2007
PIX/​ASA March 2007
In addition, I WAS scheduled to attend the IDS/​IPS V6.0 class in September ’07 and the ACEOC class in October ’07. But, as shown in the low score, the IDS/​IPS class was cancelled by Ascolta, and we subsequently cancelled FOUR seats for the ACEOC. A portion of the IDS/​IPS cancellation was our fault. We originally had 5 seats (3 full week, 2 partial week) scheduled, but ended up rescheduling 3 of the seats due to a new campus going online ahead of schedule.
HOWEVER, if you read my full Ascolta review located on my website (
), you’ll quickly see why Ascolta is currently on my proverbial «Bad Side».
Overall, Ascolta is one of the industry’s «Cisco Authorized Training Partner» sites. In layman’s terms, they’re a Cisco training mill. This is by no means a derogatory statement. There is definitely a need for training centers specializing in Cisco products. However, with so many training companies out there, if any one organization wants to set themselves apart from the ‘pack’, there are a few things that they must do better, and more consistently than everyone else:
Provide Better Customer Service than the competitors
Deliver Superior Products
Know Your Customers
Keep Your Promises
Unfortunately, Ascolta does none of this well at all.
Read my entire review, and you’ll come to understand my frustration with this company.

Received some great Cisco based training with this Cisco training partner. The instructor was knowledgeable and made sure the students understood everything in the curriculum. If you’re a network engineering professional this is a great place to get training and it’s located near the beautiful beaches of San Diego.