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Windows 2008 Upgrade Exam Set for End of October

Upgrade exam for MCSEs contains material based on pre-release version of Windows 2008, according to Microsoft.

• By Michael Domingo
• October 18, 2007

Windows 2008 early adopters and testers who already have an MCSE on Windows 2003 can get the early jump on being certified to work with the newest networking OS from Microsoft, and they can do that many months before the software hits the shelves in February next year. Microsoft has plans to release Exam 70-649 TS: Upgrading Your MCSE Windows Server 2003 to MCTS Windows Server 2008, on Monday, Oct. 29. This, according to an e-mail from David Lowe, senior product manager for the Windows Server Marketing group.

Lowe indicated that the new exam will contain items based on pre-release features of Windows Server 2008. Even so, those who pass this exam will become full-fledged MCTS Windows Server 2008 titleholders, he said.

Exam 70-649, according to the exam objective guide, is comprised of material that appears on three other exams, 70-640, 70-642, and 70-643, mainly based on Active Directory, network infrastructure and configuring applications on the new server OS. Candidates must have an MCSE on Windows Server 2003 in order for the exam to count toward the MCTS: Windows 2008 AD Configuration, MCTS: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure Configuration, or MCTS: Windows 2008 Application Platform Configuration certificates. The exam also can be used as credit toward two new higher level titles: MCITP: Network Administrator and MCITP: Enterprise Administrator. (More information will be forthcoming for these titles.)

Besides holding the MCSE-Windows 2003, Microsoft does recommend that candidates who plan to take this exam have at least one year of experience working on a medium- to enterprise-sized network with 250 to 5,000 users in disparate locations.

Exam 70-649 will be available at Thomson Prometric test centers worldwide at prices based on region; in the U.S., the fee is $125.

Becky Nagel contributed to this report.