Network Specialist Essentials

Operators learn to use PhotoRobot. Studio managers decide what PhotoRobot does for the business. Network Specialists keep the studio’s connectivity healthy so the other two can do their jobs without surprises. This package teaches the third skill at the studio-side technical lead level — not enterprise IT, not PhotoRobot R&D.

What you’ll learn

After completing the Network Specialist Essentials package and passing the certification exam, you will be able to:

• Design a studio network that fits the use case — single-subnet vs. multi-subnet rationale, when to isolate lighting on its own subnet, bandwidth budgeting for multi-camera + multi-light + multi-robot topologies
• Diagnose connectivity failures fast — work through an 8-step “robot is offline” diagnostic tree, distinguish DHCP issues from cable issues from CAPP issues from firewall issues, recognize when Locator says “online” but CAPP still can’t connect
• Recover from common network failures — DHCP lease conflicts, stuck reservations, WiFi interference + channel hopping, firewall rule misconfigurations
• Configure firewalls correctly for PhotoRobot — which ports CAPP and Control Units actually use, which traffic is broadcast, which is unicast
• Operate multi-site studio networks — identical configuration templating, VPN considerations (when needed, when overkill), cloud sync, disaster recovery, centralized vs. distributed CAPP licensing
• Know when to escalate — clean distinction between issues you should resolve in-house vs. issues that need PhotoRobot Support involvement, with a clean handoff packet of diagnostic data

This package is technical but not theoretical. We don’t memorize RFCs. We do trace a packet from Locator App → Discovery broadcast → Control Unit reply → CAPP TCP session enough times that when something breaks, you know which leg to test first.

What’s included

The Network Specialist Essentials package contains 6 modules plus an end-of-package certification exam.

Shared foundation (3 modules — reused from Operator Standard)

A Network Specialist needs the operator’s mental model first — you can’t troubleshoot what you can’t visualize.

1. B01 — System Overview (shared with Operator Standard, Studio Manager, Integrator). CAPP / Locator / Control Units / PhotoRobot Cloud ecosystem. The “what talks to what” diagram. ~45 min.
2. B03 — Network Setup (shared with Operator Standard). Fundamentals — subnet, DHCP, broadcast domains, why lighting wants its own subnet, switch vs. router placement. ~60 min.
3. B04 — Locator App & FRFind (shared with Operator Standard). Discovery tool fluency — read a Locator scan like a network status report, use FRFind to verify a specific Control Unit responds at the link layer. ~45 min.

Network Specialist track (N## namespace — new in this package)

The N-namespace is where Network Specialist diverges from the operator track. Architecture, diagnostics, multi-site.

4. N01 — Studio Network Architecture ✅ Live in v0.31.0. ~75 min. Single-subnet vs. multi-subnet rationale, lighting network isolation deep dive, multi-camera + multi-light + multi-robot bandwidth budgeting, signs a studio is outgrowing its network, capacity planning patterns.
5. N02 — Network Troubleshooting + Recovery ✅ Live in v0.31.0. ~75 min. 8-step “robot offline” diagnostic tree, DHCP misbehavior recovery, the Locator-says-online-but-CAPP-can’t-connect gap, WiFi interference + channel hopping, firewall rule reference, escalation criteria + handoff packet.
6. N03 — Multi-Site Studio Networks ✅ Live in v0.31.0. ~60 min. Identical configuration templating, VPN considerations, cloud sync across multi-site, disaster recovery, centralized vs. distributed CAPP licensing.

Each module includes a textbook (reference reading), a workbook (exercises grounded in real studio diagnostic scenarios), and a knowledge check quiz.

How the package is delivered

Three delivery formats:

Online

Self-paced, on this Academy site. Best for tech leads at customer studios who want to skill up between in-person engagements. Includes module knowledge checks and a final certification exam.

At PhotoRobot studio

Group training in PhotoRobot’s own studio (Prague). 2 days, hands-on with real PhotoRobot networks — including deliberate failure injection so students see and recover from real symptoms. Best for new technical leads ramping on a studio.

In your studio

PhotoRobot Certified Instructor travels to your studio. 2 days. Best when you want the training to use your actual network topology as the reference case — every example is grounded in your specific subnet plan, your switches, your DHCP lease structure.

Certification

After completing all modules, students take the PhotoRobot Network Specialist certification exam:

• 50 questions drawn from a pool weighted across the modules (N01 + N02 carry the highest weight at 24 % each; B03 at 20 %; B04 at 12 %; B01 at 10 %; N03 at 10 %)
• 70 % pass threshold (same as Studio Manager and Integrator — specialist roles are held to a senior standard)
• 75 minutes
• Scenario-heavy mix — most questions present a real studio symptom and ask for the best diagnostic next step
• Verifiable certificate — auto-generated PDF with QR code that resolves to a public verification page
• 2 years validity — refresh exam available before expiry to extend (~25 scenario-heavy questions, 75 % pass, 45 min, extends by 2 years)

The Network Specialist cert exam pool is LIVE in v0.31.1 at /quiz/certifications/network-specialist.html — 50 weighted questions distributed across all 6 modules. 70 % pass = PhotoRobot Certified Network Specialist credential.

Who should take it

The Network Specialist Essentials package is for:

• Studio managers who own the studio’s connectivity contract and want to stop calling PhotoRobot Support for every DHCP hiccup
• Designated technical leads at customer studios — typically the most tech-savvy operator who’s already the team’s go-to person for “WiFi is down again”
• Senior operators transitioning into tech-lead responsibility
• IT consultants with a portfolio of small commercial / industrial studios where PhotoRobot is one of several systems sharing the network

It is not for:

• Corporate enterprise IT specialists building a campus-wide PhotoRobot rollout (you want a deeper architecture engagement with PhotoRobot directly)
• PhotoRobot R&D engineers (your context is product-side, not deployment-side)
• Daily operators who don’t own connectivity decisions (Operator Standard’s B03 + B04 give you the relevant fluency)

Prerequisites

Working tech-lead skills required:

• Read an IP address + subnet mask and tell me what subnet they’re on
• Distinguish a switch from a router
• Know what DHCP does without looking it up
• Recognize ping, traceroute, arp output shapes
• Comfortable navigating a basic consumer or pro-sumer router’s admin UI (TP-Link, MikroTik, UniFi, Cisco Meraki — any one)

Helpful but not required:

• VPN experience (we cover what you need for multi-site)
• Wireshark or tcpdump familiarity (we’ll use Locator + FRFind as primary tools, not packet captures)
• Cloud platform basics (we cover what’s needed for cloud sync)

If you don’t yet have working tech-lead skills, complete Operator Standard first — its B03 + B04 will surface whether networking is your missing piece.

Enrollment

This package is sold through PhotoRobot sales. Customers receive a voucher code upon purchase that grants access to the Network Specialist Essentials package on this Academy site. Each voucher is single-use, per-student.

For pricing, group rates, or to schedule on-site training, contact PhotoRobot sales.

After certification

The Network Specialist certificate is the foundation for senior connectivity work in PhotoRobot studios:

• Stack with Hardware Specialist Essentials — most studios that need a Network Specialist also need a Hardware Specialist; one person often holds both certs
• PhotoRobot Certified Instructor (CI) track — for Network Specialists who want to deliver Academy training at their organization
• PhotoRobot Partner Network — certified Network Specialists are listed in PhotoRobot’s partner registry, visible to customers shopping for connectivity help
• Advanced multi-site engagements — opens the door to PhotoRobot-led multi-site rollout consulting

Module readiness

Tracking the current build state of each module in the package:

• ✅ B01 — System Overview (reused from Operator Standard)
• ✅ B03 — Network Setup (reused from Operator Standard)
• ✅ B04 — Locator App & FRFind (reused from Operator Standard)
• ✅ N01 — Studio Network Architecture (new in v0.31.0)
• ✅ N02 — Network Troubleshooting + Recovery (new in v0.31.0)
• ✅ N03 — Multi-Site Studio Networks (new in v0.31.0)

Network Specialist Essentials is 6/6 modules ready + cert exam pool LIVE in v0.31.1 + refresh exam LIVE in v0.31.1. Fourth fully cert-enabled track in Academy.

A note on photorobot.com manuals

This package draws on PhotoRobot’s Network Setup manual, the Locator App manual, and the FRFind utility documentation. Academy provides the diagnostic mental model and architecture frame; the manuals are the authoritative reference for specific port numbers, default IP ranges, and Control Unit network behavior under load.

We expect Network Specialists to keep both bookmarks — Academy for how to think about a network problem, manuals for what exactly does CAPP do when discovery fails. The two are designed to complement, not duplicate.