CET1600 is the first networking course in Florida's Computer Engineering Technology and networking A.S. programmes. The Statewide Course Numbering System titles it Networking Hardware and describes it as preparing "a student to apply and understand the basics of networking hardware," covering "the OSI model and industry standards; network topologies; IP addressing, including subnet masks; and basic network design." The state description adds that it is "the first of a 4-part series designed to prepare students for the Cisco Certified Networking Associate exam."
It is offered at six Florida public colleges — State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, St. Petersburg College, Santa Fe College, Daytona State College, Tallahassee State College and Hillsborough Community College — all at 3 credits. That makes it one of the most widely adopted courses in the CET prefix, and the entry point most students take before anything else in the networking sequence.
⚠ One institution teaches a different vendor's course under this number. Five of the six carry Cisco-aligned titles ("Networking Fundamentals", "Network Fundamentals", "Cisco Networking Fundamentals", "Introduction to Networks", "Cisco Network Fundamentals"). Daytona State College titles it "Network Plus" — CompTIA's vendor-neutral Network+ certification rather than Cisco's CCNA track. The underlying subject matter overlaps heavily, since both begin with the OSI model, topologies, media and IP addressing, but the certification target and the laboratory equipment are different. See the note below before assuming your section prepares you for a particular exam.
Most students here are in an A.S. in Computer Engineering Technology, Network Systems Technology or Cybersecurity, and a substantial minority are working adults funded by an employer to formalise skills already used on the job.
The statewide definition ties this number to the Cisco CCNA track, and five of the six colleges follow it. Daytona State College's title, "Network Plus", points at CompTIA's vendor-neutral Network+ instead. What this means in practice:
The state description dates from a period when Cisco's CCNA curriculum ran to four academy courses. Cisco consolidated it into three — Introduction to Networks; Switching, Routing and Wireless Essentials; and Enterprise Networking, Security and Automation — and the certification became a single examination. Florida's course numbers still describe the older four-part structure, which is why CET2620, nominally the fourth part, now carries several genuinely different subjects at different colleges. This course, the first part, is the one least affected: it still maps cleanly onto Introduction to Networks.
All six institutions carrying CET1600 list it at 3 credits.
| Institution | Its title | Credits | Contact hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota | Networking Fundamentals | 3 | not published |
| St. Petersburg College | Network Fundamentals | 3 | not published |
| Santa Fe College | Cisco Networking Fundamentals | 3 | not published |
| Daytona State College | Network Plus (CompTIA, not Cisco) | 3 | not published |
| Tallahassee State College | Introduction to Networks | 3 | not published |
| Hillsborough Community College | Cisco Network Fundamentals | 3 | not published |
All six are Florida College System institutions, so statewide numbering guarantees transfer of this course between them.
⚠⚠ The laboratory form of this course does vary in credit, by a full credit at one college. Six further institutions carry CET1600C, the integrated lecture-and-laboratory version:
| Institution | Id | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| South Florida State College | CET1600C | 3 |
| St. Johns River State College | CET1600C | 3 |
| Broward College | CET1600C | 3 |
| Polk State College | CET1600C | 3 |
| Florida Gateway College | CET1600C | 3 |
| Seminole State College of Florida | CET1600C | 4 |
Seminole State's four-credit version is the outlier to watch. A student transferring a 4-credit CET1600C into a programme that budgets 3 carries a spare credit that may apply nowhere; a student transferring 3 credits into Seminole State's sequence may be a credit short against the degree audit. Neither surfaces until the audit. If you are moving between these institutions, get the credit value confirmed in writing before the term you need it.
⚠ The 45 contact hours at the top of this guide are derived — no institution publishes an hour figure for this course — and follow Florida's standard allocation for a 3-credit lecture course. The C version runs higher: about 60 hours at 3 credits, and correspondingly more at Seminole State's 4.
A first-term course with no statewide prerequisite, though colleges commonly recommend or require an introductory computing or A+ hardware course first, and some gate it on college-level reading and algebra placement. It is the prerequisite for CET1610 and everything beyond it in the networking sequence. Missing it delays the whole track, since the later courses are typically offered once a year in a fixed order at the smaller colleges.
Statewide numbering guarantees transfer to any Florida public institution offering the same number. Two practical notes: into a B.A.S. in Information Technology, Network Systems or Cybersecurity, it articulates as intended and is usually a required foundation. Into a B.S. in Computer Science, it will generally transfer as elective credit only — computer science programmes meet their networking requirement with an upper-division theory course, and an applied CCNA-track course does not substitute for it. Confirm with the receiving department.
Neither the CCNA nor Network+ examination is included in tuition. Both cost several hundred dollars, and both are optional to passing the course. Many Florida colleges hold voucher funding or discount programmes for students — ask, because the discount is frequently substantial and is not always advertised.
Budget six to nine hours a week outside class. Subnetting is where students fail this course — it is a mechanical skill that rewards daily short practice and punishes cramming, and everything later in the sequence assumes it is automatic. Students who can subnet in their heads by the midterm generally do well in the remaining three courses; those who cannot tend to struggle in every one of them.
Networking is one of the areas where current AI tools are genuinely useful to a student, and also one where their errors are hardest for a beginner to spot.
Where they help: explaining a protocol's behaviour in different words; walking through a subnetting problem step by step; generating practice addressing problems, which is exactly the repetitive drill this course needs; interpreting an unfamiliar error message or a section of device output; drafting documentation and topology descriptions; and explaining the intent of a configuration snippet found online.
Where they fail: generated device configurations frequently mix syntax across vendors and across software versions, producing commands that look right and are rejected by the device — or, worse, accepted with a different effect than intended. Subnetting arithmetic is produced confidently and is sometimes simply wrong, particularly with variable-length masks. And models will readily invent a plausible-sounding command that does not exist.
The professional habit to build now: a configuration is verified on the device, not in the chat window. show commands, a ping test and a packet capture settle what a configuration actually did; the explanation is a hypothesis until then. That is also the exact discipline the certification examinations and every employer expect, so practising it on generated output costs nothing and builds the right reflex.
Academic integrity: laboratory work in this course is commonly assessed from saved configurations and live demonstration, both of which expose work a student cannot explain. Read your syllabus — instructor policies differ within the same department, and some encourage tool use explicitly for documentation while prohibiting it for graded configuration exercises.
Generated September 12, 2026 · Updated September 12, 2026