Cisco posted an announcement today on the CCDE page of the Cisco Learning Network.

REGISTER NOW for the BETA Practical Exam
Cisco is now registering beta candidates for the CCDE Practical Exam. Cisco has finished development of the second exam needed to attain the CCDE certification, the practical exam, and is now soliciting candidates for the beta delivery.

Cisco will be offering this beta delivery of the exam on October, 1 in Chicago, Illinois at a VUE professional testing center. Only candidates that have a passing score on the CCDE qualification exam may register and participate in this exam. Exam beta pricing is $980US. Register Now by email at: ccdebeta@cisco.com

Luckily for me I live in Chicago so it won't be too far of a trek. :) If the written exam is any indication of the content that will be tested on in the practical exam, it's sure to be an interesting one. The good news is that I have just under three months to finish reading the few hundred thousand pages of Solutions Reference Network Design guides.

Also as a side note the Chicago Cubs are still in first place in the National League! If you are going to be in town for the CCDE beta shoot me an email. Maybe we can arrange an Internetwork Expert sponsored field trip to playoff baseball at Wrigley Field! ;)