The Planet says every one of its NOC technicians is now at least 100 percent certified - with some employees having earned even more advanced Cisco certifications - and has achieved this designation through an exam that tests the skills required to install, configure, operate and troubleshoot routed and switched networks.

Created by Cisco Systems, CCNA is an industry-recognized standard of expertise for IT network professionals, says The Planet. According to Cisco's website, the CCNA is the first step in general Cisco career certifications.

The certification requires knowledge of core network functions, including the verification of remote sites in a wide area network, knowledge of various network types and the basic mitigation of security threats. Other skills tested include the implementation of local area networks and an understanding of wireless networking concepts.

"Customers tell us that they come to The Planet to host their IT infrastructures based on the quality of our network and our six world-class data centers," says Stan Barter, The Planet's VP of network operations. "The NOC is the nerve center for our company, and its primary role is to ensure the entire network infrastructure functions at its highest level of capability. Cisco is the recognized market leader in IT and network knowledge, so we certify each engineer to their standards, which offer an excellent career path for advancement in our company."

The Planet also used the announcement as an opportunity to promote some open positions at its NOC, for CCNA certified candidates, of course.

The Planet says it is the "leading provider of on-demand IT infrastructure solutions," and is currently serving more than 22,000 small to medium-sized businesses and around 6.7 million websites worldwide.

Last week, the company launched its new "virtual rack" solution, designed to make the features of its popular private rack solution available to customers running as few as two servers.