Archives for May 2023

Happy Friday! This weekend we get to celebrate Mother’s Day—the one day of the year when we all put on our best behavior and treat our moms like royalty. But let’s be honest, the other 364 days we’re back to our usual shenanigans. So on this special day, let’s give our moms a break and let them relax!

In This Issue: Core Value: Building Processes | Meraki 4/7 dBi Dual-Band Omni Antenna | All about Aruba 2530 Switches| News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Core Value: Building Processes

Happy Friday, folks! I will be continuing our series covering the Core Values of CablesAndKits. Our third core value is Build Process That Don’t Fail. Our definition is: We encourage and celebrate continuous improvement. We aim to build systems and processes that are well-developed, thoroughly tested, and sustainable to ensure that we keep our commitments.

I’ll share an example. We offer same-day shipping on in-stock orders. Creating a process and communicating this commitment with you, our customer, was a big step forward. Before publicly sharing it, we had invested time updating our system and process to ensure we would do it consistently. As time has passed, orders have become more complex and varied, forcing us to continually innovate this process to ensure that we keep our same-day commitment.

Building processes that don’t fail doesn’t mean we are perfect; it means we are continuously striving to improve! While we try to anticipate how a process will handle multiple scenarios, we can only see around some corners. We’re looking for a commitment to refine the process when we find that the process needs to be updated. It’s a mindset of continuous improvement.

Here is a Forbes article providing feedback on improving processes.

Have a great weekend!

Chris

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Meraki MA-ANT-20 antenna is a multi-band, omnidirectional antenna designed for use with Meraki APs that have N-type connectors. It is a versatile antenna and is suitable for a broad range of applications. Sold in sets of 2.

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Learning Center Article – All about Aruba 2530 Switches

When you’re trying to find the perfect hardware for your network, you’re going to have to weigh a few things. You can get the most powerful hardware on the market, but you’ll pay a pretty penny for it.

If you want to optimize spending without skimping on performance, then you want to consider something in the range of Aruba 2530 switches. This is versatile hardware that can solve problems for many small and medium businesses, and these switches hold their own for a number of enterprise applications as well.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• NBCUniversal global advertising chief Linda Yaccarino resigned. She has been in advanced talks to become Twitter’s new CEO.
• Tesla increased the U.S. prices of its Model S, X, and Y electric vehicles by a low single-digit percentage.
• Goldman Sachs has spun out the first startup from its internal incubator. The company created a networking platform for employees called Louisa. 
• Adidas intends to sell part of its leftover Yeezy inventory and donate the money to charities.

Happy Thursday & Happy National Eat What You Want Day! Today gives us permission to set our diets aside and enjoy a day of indulgence. What are you going to enjoy today?

In This Issue: New Experiences & New Habits | HP ML350 Generation 8 | What does 5G mean for business networks? | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – New Experiences & New Habits

Good Morning!

Happy Thursday Everyone!

Lately, life has been steady for us. We are preparing for our big move back to Atlanta. I am very excited to see my family and friends when we get back! It feels like it has been so long since we were last around our families, which has been a big change for us. We both always spent time with our families multiple times a week! So going from that to not seeing them at all has been a drastic change. Though, I think it is something we needed to experience. It has been great to have such an open schedule to pretty much do what we wanted outside of work hours.

Sometimes, due to our hectic schedules, we rarely had time for ourselves unless we scheduled it. Having this break has been like a breath of fresh air. I look forward to getting some normalcy back to my sparse schedule. Hopefully, I can implement the habits I have learned while being away into our day-to-day when we get back home. I would love to find that perfect balance.

Anyways, have a wonderful Thursday and an even better Friday!

Joi

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Product Spotlights & Updates

An enterprise-grade server with high performance and efficiency, the HP ML350 Generation 8 Server is the most efficient choice for enterprise data centers, remote branch offices, and growing businesses such as SME Businesses. This high-performing tower server is designed to deliver the best combination of performance, energy efficiency, built-in capabilities, and cost-effectiveness. Its flexibility, ease of virtualization, and scalability make it a safe investment for SME businesses.

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Learning Center Article – What does 5G mean for business networks?

There is a lot of technology generating excitement for more applications than we could hope to name. One central theme to virtually all of that technology is an increased demand for data and the need for higher bandwidth for connectivity. More devices than ever are actively communicating, and they are placing massive burdens on existing infrastructure.

We all need a network that is built for the new age of connectivity. That network will run on 5G.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Best Buy is rolling out a new version of its membership program called My Best Buy in late June. The retailer is renaming the program and offering lower-priced options. It wants to grow the program as it braces for a slower year of sales.
• Disney+ will add content from Hulu to create a “one-app experience.”
• Eli Lilly has promised not to raise the prices of the company’s insulin products.
• Title 42 is the pandemic-era policy put in place by the Trump administration that immediately expels migrants without providing asylum hearings. Title 42 expires tonight, in conjunction with the end of the national Covid public health emergency. Title 8, the normal immigration law, will replace Title 42. That will allow migrants to apply for legal pathways to enter the U.S.

We’ve made it to the middle of the week! We hope that this week has been fruitful and full of successful projects. Wishing you a wonderful rest of the week ahead!

In This Issue: Traveling & Conquering Goals | Kendall Howard Cage Nuts | Importance of Fiber Optic Cleaning | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Traveling & Conquering Goals

Good morning CK Family!

What a month it’s been so far! I traveled to Denver for a big conference, went to Milwaukee for a wedding, and on Friday will be at Liberty University celebrating my husband’s sister’s graduation from her master’s program. So much travel, but all very fruitful and exciting.

I have a few more adventures ahead of me this month and then things will finally slow down for a bit, which I am so grateful for! We’ve gotten several things for our little one coming soon that we’ve been throwing into his future room, but it’s quite a mess in there so I’m looking forward to having some time to actually put all of that together.

Also, a book update for you! I was able to read 3 books over the past two weeks while I was traveling so am getting closer and closer to catching up to my goal of reading 26 books this year!

Cheers to a great rest of the week!

Ashley

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Kendall Howard 10-32 cage nuts create a threading mounting hole for mounting equipment on universal rack rails. They are usually used in wall mount cabinets, server enclosures, and open frame racks. These cage nuts are made with a clear zinc finish which makes it stronger and more durable. They also have a snap-in design which features wings that can be compressed to snap into the square holes. This design allows for the nut to stay securely in place.

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Learning Center Article – Importance of Fiber Optic Cleaning

As the name implies, fiber optic cleaning is the process of cleaning fiber connector end faces and components that are prone to contamination. Contamination can hurt fiber optic performance and even lead to test failures. Cleaning resolves one of the leading causes of these failures and produces a pristine fiber optic network that performs as expected.

To put it in simple terms, fiber optic cleaning is necessary to allow the components to perform as intended.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($726,200 or less) decreased last week to 6.48% from 6.50%.
• Ford Motor revealed its redesigned Ranger midsize pickup truck for the U.S., including a new Raptor performance model. 
• Twitter could launch encrypted direct messages, Elon Musk said, as the CEO outlined plans to boost communication features on the social media service. 
• The first asteroid belt ever seen outside the solar system is more complex than expected, astronomers found, using observations by the James Webb Space Telescope. 

Happy Tuesday & Happy National Lost Sock Memorial Day! Today it’s time to say “goodbye” to all of the single socks we’ve been holding onto in hopes that we would find their match.

In This Issue: Networking at the Beach | HP Aruba 2930M Series Switch | Data Center Server Rack Sizing Guide | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Networking at the Beach

Good Morning & Happy Tuesday! Hope everyone is off to a great start this week!

I’m writing today’s CK Daily from Clearwater, Florida as I’m down here for a conference. I had never been to Clearwater before, but I’m very much enjoying it! The beaches are beautiful, the weather has been fantastic, and the food has been delicious!

The conference has been wonderful so far as well! We’ve had some great conversations and met some really nice people. Yesterday was fairly laid back with lots of networking time, but today we have a packed schedule with sessions that should be informative, so I’m looking forward to that! It’s always nice to get together with others in the industry to learn and build relationships.

Looking forward to a great second day here!

Rebecca

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Aruba 2930M Series of switches was designed to deliver performance and a robust feature set for customers creating smart digital workplaces that are optimized for mobile users with an integrated wired and wireless approach. These Layer 3 switches are high performance, stackable switches that support stacking for up to 10 switches. They support wire speeds up to 10GbE and up to 40Gbe uplinks. They are easy to deploy and manage using Aruba AirWave or Aruba Central with Zero Touch Provisioning.

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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.

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:

• Boeing won an order from low-cost European carrier Ryanair for at least 150 of the manufacturer’s 737 Max planes.
• LinkedIn is laying off 716 workers worldwide and sunsetting its local Chinese app, InCareer. 
• Disney has reportedly cut ties with Dwayne Johnson in a major film franchise after a massive $3 billion lawsuit was filed that names Johnson as the mastermind behind an elaborate kidnapping plot against another former pro-wrestler and her children. 
• Asteroid 2023 HG1 is hurtling towards Earth at a speed of 7200 KMPH (2 KMPH), and it is thought to be the size of a home.
  On May 9, 2023, the asteroid is anticipated to pass within 2,590,000 miles (4,160,000 km) of Earth. The diameter of this specific asteroid, which is nearly the size of a house, is 60 feet. 

Happy Monday! We hope you had a wonderful weekend and are well-rested for the week ahead.

In This Issue: The King’s Coronation | Cisco 2821 Integrated Services Router | All About 100G Transceivers and Uses in Data Centers| News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – The King’s Coronation

Happy Monday!

Did anyone else happen to catch the King Charles III coronation? What a spectacle and treat it was. I was fascinated by the rituals and ceremonies. The last coronation was 70 years ago, well before my time, so I feel a bit privileged at witnessing this historic event (albeit thousands of miles away in the comfort of my home). My favorite part of the coronation was the anointing of King Charles where the choir performed Handel’s Zadok the Priest.

I hope to visit England one day and visit Westminster Abbey, where the coronation took place. I was fascinated by the sheer scale and beauty of the church and it blows my mind that it was built in 1269 (over 750 years ago!). Anyways, if you missed the coronation, you can definitely catch it on YouTube. I hope you have a great and wonderful week!

Cris

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Cisco 2800 series is a range of modular routers that provide a range of features for small to medium-sized businesses and enterprise branch offices. It is a modular router that can be configured with a variety of different WAN and LAN interface modules to support a range of networking needs.

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Learning Center Article – All About 100G Transceivers and Uses in Data Centers

As networking continues to evolve, it has become apparent that data centers are going to do all of the heavy lifting, regardless of who the network serves. In fact, that’s already the case. Networking hubs handle virtually all digital traffic before requests eventually filter down to individual users.

Because of this, data center networking is only going to demand more from its hardware and design. Meeting the needs today and tomorrow will require 100G transceivers. This guide was designed to help you better understand and navigate the world of these transceivers.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Russia launched its biggest swarm of drones for months against Ukraine on Monday, the eve of Russia’s May 9 holiday celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany, which Kyiv marked a day earlier in a symbolic new break with Moscow.
• Western Canada’s spreading wildfires prompted fresh evacuation orders on Sunday as authorities registered over 100 active blazes. Around 30,000 people have been told to leave their homes in Alberta, where more than two dozen fires have not yet been brought under control. 
• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill to void Disney development deals. 
• The mission for the military’s Los Angeles-based Space Safari team calls for flying a Millennium Space Systems-built satellite on Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket — on remarkably short notice.

Happy Friday & Happy National Cartoonists Day! Today honors all the creative ink-stained artists that have created fascinating pieces and have brought lots of entertainment into our lives. What is your favorite cartoon?

In This Issue: Business Lesson: Budget Management | Best Way to Connect Multiple Switches | Meraki Access Point | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Business Lesson: Budget Management

Happy Friday, folks! I’m pausing our series on Core Values this week and plan to pick that back up next Friday.

We’re in an economic environment that we haven’t experienced in probably 15 years (maybe more). With each passing week, there is more news about the stock market fluctuating, more layoffs (😢), and another interest rate increase from the Fed.

It’s easy to let these things consume our thoughts, so focusing on things you can control is essential. I’ll share how we at CablesAndKits try to stay focused on things we can control. We have a financial philosophy that guides our budgeting process. It is Define the Bottom, Drive the Top, and Manage the Middle.

I’ll break down what each means here.

Define the Bottom – Companies describe this in a few different ways. We use Earnings Before Taxes (EBT). Other companies call this Net Margin or Earnings. We define the EBT percentage target that we will maintain. We focus on percentage as our revenue will fluctuate. Focusing on the percentage ensures we can put money aside for savings and investments.

Drive the Top – this is all about revenue growth. In the business world, there are some years where this is easy, and others are way more difficult.

Manage the Middle – this is all about expense and cost of goods management. A lot of the recent financial news focuses on companies managing their middle.

Mathematically, it’s a simple formula: Revenue (Drive the Top) minus Expenses (Manage the Middle) = EBT (Define the Bottom).

I have two reasons to share this…the first is a business lesson. Putting the focus on managing the middle is where you have the most control. Are you paying for services you’re no longer using, or is there a project you need to pause to free up budget dollars for something else?

The second reason is we at CablesAndKits can help you. IT projects are still part of all of our roadmaps. By offering refurbished equipment backed with a lifetime warranty, you can S T R E T C H your budget.

Here are a couple of examples where the savings are huge (Lifetime Warranty Included):
– WS-C2960X-48FPS-L 48 Port PoE+ 2960-X Switch
MSRP is $8,507.19
CK Price: $749.99
91% off MSRP
– WS-C3850-48P-S 48 Port PoE+ 3850 IP Base Switch
MSRP: $13,000
CK Price: $957.99
92% off MSRP
We know IT projects are hard to complete (and take investment), so we’re here to help. We can save you money and get you the IT gear quicker than other avenues.

How can we help you?

Have a great weekend!

Chris

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Meraki MR46-HW raises the bar to new heights when it comes to wireless performance and efficiency. This cloud-managed access point features 4×4:4 MU-MIMO and 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 making it perfect for next-generation deployments in everything from offices and schools to shops and hotels. It offers the best of all worlds with high throughput, enterprise-grade security, and simple management through the Meraki dashboard.

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Learning Center Article – Best Way to Connect Multiple Switches

It’s why many modern switches come pre-designed to work in a stack, cluster, or other configuration. The goal is to connect multiple switches together in order to improve the network.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Macy’s will open five more stores in strip centers, as it shutters more of its giant mall anchors. CEO Jeff Gennette said it’s a pivotal time for the company’s off-mall push, as the retailer decides on expansion plans by year-end.
• A jury ruled that Ed Sheeran didn’t commit copyright infringement with his 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud”. 
• Nonfarm payrolls increased 253,000 for April, beating Wall Street estimates for growth of 180,000. The unemployment rate was 3.4% against an estimate for 3.6% and tied for the lowest level since 1969. 
• Shopify is selling its logistics unit to supply chain technology company Flexport.