“The training from Prime Communications is very valuable,” says Manabat. “There are things,” he explains, “that can be easily solved over the phone, say router configurations. You can access the device and troubleshoot over the phone if you understand each other.”

What is taught in Prime Academy then is a language and a way of doing things. “Other technicians,” Manabat complains, “tend to complicate a simple trouble-shooting issue with their complex explanations. The instructors at Prime Academy, as well as their online support team, have a good grasp of IT and are able to give us good analogies.” IT jargon can be confusing even to those who already practice it.

Birthing the Academy

Prime Academy was a project that grew gradually. At first without a formal name, it really began as Prime Communications' training program for its own engineers to improve their skills and prepare them for Cisco-certification, a coveted seal of competence in the IT industry.

“One of our corporate values at Prime Communications is Passion for Excellence,” Network Operations Manager Mark Aquino notes, “As such, we constantly find ways to raise the bar. One such area for constant development is our engineers' technical abilities. So we decided to train all of them to become Cisco-certified.” The training has been so successful that Prime Communications' engineers have a 100% passing rate on the Cisco-certification exams. “After training our own engineers, however, we also identified the need to share this knowledge with our customers,” Aquino elaborates. There was a compelling need to make the same information and grasp of IT concepts accessible to clients. Aquino terms this “knowledge synchronization.”

Student reviews

Randy Lopez, a network systems administrator in La Salle, enjoys Prime Academy classes and finds the material useful. “What Mark, our instructor, is teaching us about sub netting is very important because we are trying to do precisely this at work,” Randy says. “We are trying to separate the networks of our buildings by using LAN.”

His La Salle-Lipa colleague JC Luna agrees, “What we're learning here will have a significant impact in our work because this is all about application.” JC and his Prime Academy classmates are learning about routing and subnetting, but JC is really looking forward to their discussions about switching.

Pride from the inside

Prime Academy's lead instructor Aquino is happy at how warmly their training program has been received. “So many are interested in joining us in Prime Academy that we have increased the number of slots for students and we are even fully booked until next year!”

Keeping pace with change

Whatever your profession or industry, it is always important to keep up with the changing times. The challenge to grow professionally is met not only with fervor to learn, but also with encouragement to do so. Prime Communications institutionalizes learning with Prime Academy, not only for its own engineers, but for clients as well.

For further information, contact the Prime Academy Secretariat via primeacademy@prime.net.ph , (fax) 631 4950 or your Prime Communications SRM or CRM. You may also visit Prime Academy's website at www.prime.net/primeacademy .

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About Prime Communications

Prime Communications is the only customer service-focused IP communications service provider in the Philippines. Its expertise is in the delivery of feature-rich IP communications services, which include Internet access delivered via wired or wireless solutions, managed Internet security, back-up and disaster recovery services, VoIP, VPN, data center services and customisable value-added services.

Prime Communications is the trade name of Primeworld Digital Systems, Inc. (PDSI), a telecommunications company licensed to provide nationwide telecommunications and value-added services. It has evolved from being one of the pioneering ISPs in the country to being a full-fledged telecommunications company specializing in IP communications. PDSI has been operating since 1996.

Media Contacts

Rose C. Yap
Marketing Manager
Prime Communications
Direct Tel: +63 2 918 0322 Mobile: +63 917 846 7918
Fax: +63 2 918 0200
Email:  rose.yap@prime.net.ph
www.prime.net.ph  

Agatep Associates, Inc.

Tel: +63 2 635 9355 to 60, local 181 & 189
Media Relations Department
Direct line: +63 2 636-0943; Fax: +63 2 635 0516