SBCC’s Computer Information Systems Department recently received designation as a VMware IT Academy.

VMware Inc., headquartered in Palo Alto, is one of the industry’s leading technology providers for cloud computing and virtualization.

With the academy designation, SBCC is now one of the first locations in the Santa Barbara area to offer official VMware courses, a requirement for Internet technology professionals to become VM-certified.

In addition, students who take the course through SBCC can get a 70 percent discount on their certification examination.

This spring, vSphere Install, Configure and Manage, a three-unit course (CIS 219), will be offered for 16 Tuesday evenings beginning Jan. 25. Instructor Matthew Murray is VMware-certified and one of the co-founders of the local Santa Barbara area VMware Users Groups.

For more information or to register, click here for the SBCC spring 2011 class schedule.

— Joan Galvan is a public information officer for SBCC.