CCIE R&S and SP

I was looking at which route would serve me best. I think R&S is good because it's the most accessible in terms of location to take the lab and the quantity of resources to learn from but I've an interest in ISIS, both Integrated and pure CLNS. This is due to the large network at my current work place. So, I had a search around the syllabuses and there it was, in black and white, - no current ISIS or CLNS component in the R&S track but there in the SP (sorry for not clarifying this earlier but that's Service Provider).

The two documents are easily found on the Cisco Learning Network:

https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/docs/DOC-6864

https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/docs/DOC-5300

Again you'll have to log in to see these.

The lab equipment and the IOS versions looked very similar in both. I have my home lab setup to cover a good portion of this and with the two new routers I've ordered (I have a very good contact if anyone needs super support and quality goods in the UK) should take me to a point where I can work on nearly all of this in my own time.

Both tracks have a lot more similarities than difference so I've got to take time to work out which one I'll go for (if I actually do).

In the mean time I need to get down and dirty with pure CLNS and solve issues with secure access and work out if I need to spend bags of cash on training or training material. So far the INE has been recommended to me and the mountains of offers from Google seem to be too good to be true - pass for sure with just 5 days time in their labs etc. Umm?

I'm hoping work will offer me some support in payment for all the training I do and all the extra work and money I've saved them. Here's hoping.

Oh, INE can be found here:

http://www.ine.com/