Archives for October 2022

Happy Wednesday! We’re halfway through the week and I don’t know about you, but the weekend is calling. Do you have weekend plans you’re looking forward to?

In This Issue: Preparing Plants for Winter | Cisco Aironet 1130, 1140, 1240, 1300 Series Power Supply | Importance of a Disaster Recovery Plan for Your Network | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Preparing Plants for Winter

Good morning and happy Wednesday!

Last week I spent lots of time on the road, so I’m happy to be back home this week. It’s so nice to be back and to get back to my normal routine.

This week I’m spending some time giving some TLC to all of my plants. With the weather starting to cool down, it’s time to bring them in and give them the care they need to prepare for the winter.

How do you prep your plants for the cooler months?

Ashley

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Put the power back where it belongs…in your network. Use our Cisco Aironet 1130, 1140, 1240, 1300 Series Power Supply and feel the difference for yourself. Our power supplies will help keep your operation running efficiently. We individually bag and label every one of your purchases so you can easily store and identify your Cisco accessories.

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Learning Center Article – Importance of a Disaster Recovery Plan for Your Network

You run a modern business. You use computers, and you’re connected to the internet. That’s just how things work these days, and when things are in fact working, it’s pretty nice.

Networking resources allow for instantaneous communication, easy data management, and a whole bunch of efficiencies that improve your bottom line.

Unfortunately, all of those advantages come with a hidden downside. What happens if your network goes down? How can your business deal with such a problem?

The answer to that is typically found in a network disaster recovery plan, and when you understand exactly what is involved, you’ll see that a good recovery plan can be truly priceless.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Japan’s space agency says an unmanned rocket carrying satellites had to be aborted with a self-destruct command minutes after takeoff from the Uchinoura Space Center in the southern Japanese prefecture of Kagoshima.
• Amazon’s Prime Day Early Access Sale is here for another day. Check out this article for some of the best deals.
• NASA will provide live coverage of the upcoming return activities for the agency’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station.
• Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reported that his company’s newest virtual reality headset, dubbed the Meta Quest Pro, will cost $1,500 and start shipping on Oct. 25.

Happy Monday and Happy Columbus Day! We’ve all grown up learning “In 1492, Colombus sailed the ocean blue.” Today we celebrate Christopher Columbus’ arrival in America!

In This Issue: Fall Traditions | Cat6 Shielded Crossover Ethernet Patch Cable | Data Center Server Rack Sizing Guide | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Fall Traditions

Hello and Happy Monday!

I am currently traveling back home from a nice little weekend getaway. My mother-in-law invited us to stay with her and friends of the family at a rather large cabin in Morganton, Georgia. The drive up was beautiful… It’s not quite peak fall colors, but close enough to see different hues of yellow and orange.

We spent a lot of time exploring around the mountain the cabin is nestled in, and later visited a beautiful Apple orchard in Blue Ridge, GA – Mercier Orchards. We didn’t get a chance to pick any apples (it was very very crowded), but we did enjoy some treats including some Apple cider donuts! I was also fortunate to find my favorite apple varietal – the Crimson Crisp apple. This is a crisp, sweet, and slightly tart apple that I think is just the best. We tried other apples (as there was a sample area), but Crimson Crisp is still my favorite. I also discovered another apple called the Sun Crisp, which is definitely in my top 5. It’s not as tart as the Crimson Crisp and has a sweeter flavor.

It seemed like we walked over 20 miles over the weekend as we also explored downtown Blue Ridge and as we hunted for deer sightings in the woods. We did see some deer and a lot of woodpeckers (they looked like a woody woodpecker and even laughed similarly). Overall it was a great weekend and a great time decompressing. Now I need the next day to recover from the vacation, haha. Do you have any fall traditions or trips planned for this year? I’d love to hear about them!

Cris

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Make the easy choice with our CAT6 shielded patch cables. Our 7-foot, gray CAT6 Shielded Crossover Ethernet Patch Cables are a smart investment for your IT network. They feature a braided core that connects to RJ plugs on either side of the cable and provides you with the most important line of defense. Common sources of interference include radio towers, high-powered electrical conduits or any other device emitting electromagnetic or radio frequency signals.

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Learning Center Article – Data Center Server Rack Sizing Guide

Data centers run on server stacks, and they are usually stored in server racks. So, if you need a lot of processing power and/or data storage, then you’ll need to understand rack sizes in order to strategize.

Unfortunately, server racks are not measured according to specific official dimensions. Fortunately, they are standardized, and you can read those standards when you understand the measuring unit utilized across the industry.

This quick guide will explain how racks are measured and what you need to know in order to pick the correct server rack for your operation.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Russia unleashed a barrage of deadly attacks on cities across Ukraine on Monday, hitting the heart of the country’s capital as part of a wave of strikes against civilians and infrastructure not seen since the very earliest days of the war.
• The Bank of England on Monday announced further measures to ensure financial stability in the U.K., building on its intervention in the long-dated bond market.
• Apple recently introduced crash detection for iPhone 14 and Apple Watch. It’s supposed to detect when users get into a crash and help them reach emergency services. It seems to be overreacting in some cases, though. Crash detection is calling 911 when users go on roller coaster rides.
• Facebook’s owner Meta is warning users that as many as one million users may have had their login information stolen.

Happy World Smile Day! There are so many benefits of smiling. Be sure to take some time to smile at those around you and Happy Friday!

In This Issue: Let the Playoffs Begin! | Cisco ATA 190 Analog Telephone Adapter | How to Calculate Power Consumption for your Server Room | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Let the Playoffs Begin!

Happy Friday, folks! Today is the day that the playoffs begin in Major League Baseball! The energy and excitement pick up when the playoffs start. You can feel it in the air at the ballpark! I played baseball as a kid and always got excited when the postseason began. It’s even more exciting where your team (Braves fan here) is in the playoffs.

This past week, I had an opportunity to watch the New York Yankees take on the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field. The energy at the ballpark was amazing! Aaron Judge of the Yankees had not yet broken the American League home run record, and the crowd was on edge for every pitch to him. Judge did go on to hit the 62nd home run Tuesday night! Here is a video showing Judge’s 62 home runs (5-minute watch).

Since you’re reading this in your favorite email client, I want to share a humorous video depicting Email in Real Life. Take 3 minutes and have a good laugh!

Are you watching the baseball playoffs this year? Which team are you rooting for?

Have a great weekend!

Chris

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Cisco ATA 190 Analog Telephone Adapter is an excellent solution to be able to transform your traditional devices into VoIP devices. These adapters allow you save money by continuing to use your existing phone investment while enjoying the benefits of VoIP.

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Learning Center Article – How to Calculate Power Consumption for your Server Room

When it comes to maintaining a server room, there are many balls to juggle. You have to constantly expand the capacity and throughput of the server systems. Demands only ever rise. At the same time, the space inside the room seems to perpetually shrink. Then, the ambient temperature rises, and you draw more and more power.

That last issue is the topic of discussion here. Power draw is one of the most limiting factors when it comes to operating servers and high-end networks. Eventually, you hit a ceiling and don’t have enough power for more expansion. So, as you continue to adapt and redesign your server room, you need to be able to keep track of power consumption. These tips will help you do that.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• A 19-year-old U.S. chess grandmaster “likely cheated” in more than 100 online games, including several prize money events, according to an investigation by an online platform where many top players compete.
• U.S. employers added 263,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate fell slightly to 3.5% from 3.7%.
• About 2.55 million middle and high schoolers in the United States reported using e-cigarettes, an increase of 21.5% from those who reported using those products last year.
• Human rights groups from Russia and Ukraine – Memorial and the Center for Civil Liberties – have won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2022, along with the jailed Belarusian advocate Ales Bialiatski.

Today is Inbox Zero Day! We all need some help getting our inboxes down to a manageable level but have you ever gotten your email inbox down to zero? Today is a good day to do so…just delete everything and start over. Haha!

In This Issue: Zombies…spiders…and skeletons | Cat6 Easyboot Ethernet | Basics of GPU Servers | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Zombies…spiders…and skeletons

Happy Thursday!

One thing I have learned now that I have been in my new neighborhood for over a year and gone through a full cycle of holidays is that my neighbors go wild with decorations. I wouldn’t say it is at a competitive level…yet…but it seems like each holiday gets bigger and bigger. Halloween seems to be no exception. I imagine most of the Amazon deliveries over the past few weeks have been Halloween decorations showing up at people’s homes. It is a bit crazy with what some people have done, and I don’t think they are done yet. Everything from 12 foot tall werewolves and skeletons, to giant spider webs, to skeletons and zombies coming out of the ground in every yard, we have it all in here. It is kinda hilarious some of the creativity that they have come up with around here. I was just going to set a pumpkin out on the front porch and be done with it but they weren’t having that. After being bullied (I am totally joking of course) by no less than 4 of my neighbors, I finally broke down and decided to put some decorations out. They really wanted to the whole street to be an “experience” for the kids and people who come through. (I think we had about 300+ kids come through the neighborhood last year.) Now, I am thinking I need to put out more…geesh…they have gotten to me and sucked me in. Haha!

Do you, your neighbors, or whole neighborhood go wild decorating for Halloween?? If so, what’s the main theme or your favorite decoration? I need more ideas! Haha!

Have a great rest of your week and weekend!

Jason

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Our Cat6 Easyboot Ethernet cables make it simple for you to manage your Ethernet cabling with a tabbed boot which makes it easy to connect or disconnect the cable in hard to reach, tight, high-density situations, unlike the older style Half-moon boot cables…so no more hurting your thumbs or having to cut the tabs off the Half-moon boots.

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Learning Center Article – Basics of GPU Servers

Servers are essential in the modern world. They do the heavy lifting that allows all of us to enjoy the many perks of a digitally connected life. Whether browsing the internet, using a favorite app, or even talking on the phone, servers are playing critical roles at every juncture. With so much depending on servers, it’s not surprising to see that they continually experience serious innovation. Today’s servers can run laps around those used even five years ago, and there are a few key reasons for that.

One of those reasons is the use of GPUs. GPU servers are becoming more common, and they offer a lot to any enterprise that might put them to use.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• More than 30 people, primarily children, were killed Thursday when a gunman opened fire in a childcare center in northeastern Thailand, authorities said. It was the deadliest rampage in the nation’s history.
• Twelve North Korean warplanes flew in formation near the South Korean border in a simulation of an air-to-ground attack Thursday, prompting Seoul to scramble 30 fighter jets of its own. The South Korean military says it detected eight fighter jets and four bombers in the North Korean formation. South Korea’s flight of 30 warplanes did not engage the sortie, however, and only guarded the country’s airspace. The flight is only the latest aggression to come from Kim Jong Un’s regime, which has launched numerous ballistic missiles in recent weeks.
• Amazon said Thursday it will add 150,000 workers for the holiday shopping rush. The hiring ramp comes ahead of Amazon’s “Prime Early Access Sale” next week.
• A SpaceX rocket soared into orbit from Florida on Wednesday carrying the next long-term International Space Station crew, with a Russian cosmonaut, two Americans and a Japanese astronaut flying together in a demonstration of U.S.-Russian teamwork in space despite Ukraine war tensions. The mission is notable for the inclusion of Anna Kikina, 38, the lone female cosmonaut on active duty with Roscosmos, making the first spaceflight of a Russian launched from U.S. soil in two decades.

Happy World Teachers’ Day! Today honors teachers making vital contributions to the education and development of our future leaders. Be sure to thank a teacher who made a difference in your life!

In This Issue: Road Trip Tips & Tricks | Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series 48 Port IP PoE Switching Module | How to future-proof your network with Cisco 8800 series phones | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Road Trip Tips & Tricks

Happy Wednesday!

It’s been a very busy month in our household. We’ve traveled back-to-back weekends and now are on a week-long adventure in Ohio. I think the biggest struggle of being on the road is food. I’m a fairly picky eater and struggle with finding quick places that I can grab something to eat that I’ll actually enjoy. I usually try and pack a cooler to take on the road, especially for bigger road trips.

Do you have any tips and tricks for road trips? Especially when trying to find good food, that doesn’t make you groggy when traveling!

Hope you have a great week!

Ashley

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Inline Power 10/100BaseT Ethernet switching module enables the Catalyst 6500/6000 family to be the first platform of the industry that can support new Fast Ethernet features necessary for campus network convergence. You can use this module to supply inline power for Cisco IP Phones and Cisco Wireless Access Points supplied with Fast Ethernet.

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Learning Center Article – How to future-proof your network with Cisco 8800 series phones

Technology is constantly evolving and advancing, and the world of VoIP phones is no exception. Voice-over-IP technology has come a long way since it was first introduced in the 1990s, and many businesses, small and large, are adopting IP phones as replacements for old analog technologies.

If you are in the market for a VoIP phone, it’s critical that you maximize your investment by choosing equipment that will meet the needs of today as well as those of tomorrow. The Cisco IP Phone 8800 Series is Cisco’s next-generation advanced VoIP phone series and is an excellent option for anyone looking to future-proof their network.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Geico has made sizable staff cuts in its marketing department, and put its massive media account in review.
• Ford will end production of its $500,000 GT supercar later this year with a special edition model paying tribute to the vehicle’s racing heritage.
• The highest mortgage rates in more than 20 years coincided with one of the deadliest hurricanes on record in the United States, both contributing to a steep drop in mortgage demand. Total mortgage application volume fell 14.2% last week compared with the previous week.
• The PlayStation 5 finally has a native Disney Plus app. Disney has announced that a new version of the Disney Plus app is out now around the world for PS5, and it’s designed for the PS5.

Happy National Taco Day! Today recognizes the savory tortilla stuffed with fillings. And what better day for this to fall on than a Tuesday! Happy Taco Tuesday!

In This Issue: Race Day Adventures! | Cisco 2960S 48 Port Gigabit 370W PoE+ Switch | Understanding OLT, ONU, ONT, and ODN | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Race Day Adventures!

Good Morning & Happy Tuesday! Hope everyone is having a great start to the week! I’m still riding an emotional high from an absolutely incredible weekend! Not sure if I have mentioned this little “fun fact” before, but I’m a huge Nascar fan and grew up literally not wanting to leave the tv for even a second if a race was on. I still love the sport and was absolutely thrilled when we were offered VIP tickets to the Talladega race on Sunday (shout out to my awesome co-worker and her son who works in Nascar and made this happen!)

I got to take my little brother and we had the absolute BEST time! We were able to take a tram into the infield of the track where we got to experience all that Talladega has to offer. We got to walk through the garages where the teams work on the cars, the haulers where the teams hang out, and even got to spend some time on pit road! We got to walk right up to the cars and get an up-close view of them. During the race, we were hanging out behind the wall on pit road and at one point we were invited to climb up on a pit box for a while to watch the race which was just an unbelievable experience!

There was so much to take in and it made for the best day ever. Everyone was incredibly kind and we just couldn’t have asked for a better time! I love that Nascar allows fans to get so close to the action. Can’t think of any other sport where fans have such wide-open access to the stars and get somewhat of a glimpse “behind the scenes”. It really is super cool and super unique! We are so thankful for the awesome experience!

Rebecca

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Cisco Catalyst 2960-S Series Switches with LAN Base provide the performance and availability that today’s small businesses demand, as well as the intelligence to support business applications and security services. Switches are a key component of your network foundation and can improve the availability of critical applications while protecting business information. The Cisco Catalyst 2960-S Series Switches are specifically designed for growing businesses that need to accommodate expanding services, optimize network bandwidth, and to assure the fast and reliable delivery of applications and services.

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Learning Center Article – Understanding OLT, ONU, ONT, and ODN

As the industry for fiber optical networking continues to grow, one corner of the market is pushing innovation and development, and understanding this could help you with your own network designs.

This area is known as fiber to the home (FTTH), and it’s now a major aspect of broadband internet service.

In order to provide fiber connections all the way to endpoints in homes, the fiber optical connections have to split from one point to many endpoints efficiently. One of the preferred ways to do this is with passive optical networks (PONs).

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Bobby Wagner delivered one of the biggest hits on a person who got onto the field. The Rams linebacker flattened the protester who ran on the field with a device emitting pink smoke late in the second quarter of Los Angeles’ game against the San Francisco 49ers.
• A charmed pair of guests will have the chance to stay in the cottage of the Sanderson sisters from Hocus Pocus. The building – complete with a cauldron, spell book and black-flame candle – has been recreated in the woods of Danvers, Mass. It’s just a few miles from Salem, where the movie takes place, and where townsfolk accused more than 200 people of practicing witchcraft in 1692 and 1693.
• A Colorado man survived a bear attack in the backyard of his home when he fired at the animal and scared it away after it threw him to the ground.
• European lawmakers on Tuesday approved a new law that would require electronic devices to use a common charger. The European Parliament approved the rule which, if passed, will mean all mobile phones, tablets and cameras sold in the European Union must be equipped with a USB Type-C charging port by the end of 2024.