Archives for August 2023

Happy Tuesday & Happy Halloween! We hope you have a fun and festive day full of treats and no tricks! 👻

In This Issue: Weekend Wilderness Escape: Our Smoky Mountain Experience | 8-Outlet Smart PDU | Does Wi-Fi 6 Work With Older Devices? | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Weekend Wilderness Escape: Our Smoky Mountain Experience

Good Morning & Happy Halloween! Whether you’re going trick-or-treating with your kids, giving out candy, or just hiding out until the festivities are over, I hope you have a great time!

I just got back from an incredible weekend of camping & exploring the Smoky Mountains! My friend Jen and I run a hiking Instagram account called @georgia_hikes where we share all kinds of content related to hikes in Georgia and the Southeast. We were fortunate enough to get invited by Toyota to participate in their Destination Outdoor event this year which took place over the weekend. They provided us with a 2024 Rav4 Hybrid and we joined their team plus some other “content creators” for a weekend of camping and off-roading!

We spent the first night in Dawsonville before caravanning up to Bryson City, NC. That would normally be about a 2.5 hour drive, but we took quite a few forest service roads so it ended up being closer to 4.5 hours! The drive was gorgeous and the leaves were absolutely unbelievable!
We had plans to hike Alum Cave on Saturday morning, but by the time we got there at 8AM the parking lot was full and so was all the street parking for about 2 miles in either direction. We couldn’t believe how busy it was up there. This weekend was definitely the “Superbowl” of hiking in Smoky Mountain National Park with it being peak leaf week! Fortunately, we had already planned to hit a few other shorter hikes which we were able to do. Some exceeded expectations, others not so much!

Overall it was a fantastic weekend! We couldn’t believe the kindness and hospitality shown by the Toyota team. They set up our tents, provided more food than we could ever eat, gassed up our vehicles, and just went out of their way to make sure everyone was having a great time. Truly some of the nicest people ever! We also loved getting to meet the other content creators, most of whom were car people. We were a little bit of the odd ones out with our content being about the outdoors, but we all got along great and had a wonderful time!

Rebecca

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Created from durable metal materials, this 8-outlet PDU is the ultimate reliable power distribution unit for all of your electronic needs. This device includes 8 well-spaced outlets along with a generous 12-foot cord giving you flexibility in placement options and freeing you from the limitations of proximity to power sources. This PDU is perfect for a variety of environments including data centers, server rooms, and more.

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Learning Center Article – Does Wi-Fi 6 Work With Older Devices?

Wi-Fi 6 is the latest and greatest in Wi-Fi technology. It’s faster, handles more traffic, saves battery life, reduces interference, improves security, and more. With so many benefits, it seems like an obvious choice to upgrade, but what about your existing hardware? Does Wi-Fi 6 work with older devices?

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• The Pentagon’s Space Development Agency announced about $1.3 billion in contracts to York Space and Northrop Grumman to build communications satellites. The SDA is having the companies build 100 satellites as part of the network the agency is building, known as the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.
• “Sesame Street” will revamp its format as its five-year deal with streaming giant Max is set to expire. It means an end to the classic show’s magazine-style format, which will be replaced with two narrative-form segments pieced together with an animated segment.
• Apple announced new PC chips, MacBook Pro laptops, and a new iMac model. The new computers, including MacBook Pro and iMac models, go on sale next week, and have the same designs as last year’s models only with new chips.
• Alibaba launched the latest version of its artificial intelligence model, as the Chinese technology giant looks to compete with U.S. rivals like Amazon and Microsoft.

Happy Wednesday! Close your eyes and picture this: Golden rays on your skin, a nice stroll along the shore, and the rhythmic melody of crashing waves. It’s National Beach Day! We hope you’re at the beach this week, but if not here are some ocean sounds you can enjoy listening to today to celebrate.

In This Issue: Family, Fun & Football | Cisco ASR 1001-X System | Benefits of Cisco 9300 Switches | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Family, Fun & Football

Happy Wednesday!

This week has been full of fun! We took our first road trip with our little guy up to Ohio to see my little brother and see him play in his first college football game. My parents as well as my Aunt and Uncle will be joining us as well, but we left a little before to give us some time to make the trip. Carter did incredible in the car, so I was very grateful for that. We stopped quite a bit to change diapers, stretch our legs, and to check out little new places along the way. I can’t wait to see my brother soon and explore his new home away from home.

To add to our adventures, last night we completed our family fantasy league draft! This is our third year keeping our league going and the competition is really heating up! We added two new family members this year bringing our league up to 10 teams. We had a Zoom call going while our draft was happening and it was so fun to watch everyone as player after player was taken off the board. Can’t wait to see what the results of the season are!

What fun have you had this week? Hope you have a great rest of the week!

Ashley

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The ASR1001-X is a part of the Cisco Aggregation Services Router (ASR) 1000 Series, which is designed for service providers and enterprise networks that require high-performance routing and services. It is a 1 rack unit (1RU) service provider edge router that is designed to support layer 3 VPN (L3VPN) services. Its compact form factor has a built-in Route Processor, Embedded Services Processor (ESP) and Shared Port Adapter (SIP) Interface Processor.

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Learning Center Article – Benefits of Cisco 9300 Switches

When you’re designing a major enterprise network, you need the best tools available. For that, you will often turn to Cisco. The brand has dominated this space for decades for a reason, and when you want the very best that Cisco has to offer, you might turn to the Catalyst 9300.

What exactly do you get from this series? Let’s take a deep dive and see.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Apple on Tuesday sent out invites for its September press event. They are expected to announce the iPhone 15 and new Apple Watches. The launch will be streamed on Apple’s website.
• Tesla received a special order from the National Highway Transportation Administration in late July requiring it to provide extensive data about its Autopilot and driver monitoring systems to the agency. The auto safety regulators want to know more about a configuration for Tesla vehicles known as “Elon mode” that eliminates a so-called “nag” that normally prompts owners to keep their hands on the steering wheel.
• The center of Hurricane Idalia has hit Florida’s Gulf Coast at Category 3 strength, inflicting a big storm surge and heavy winds.
• The Biden Administration has added insulin to its list of 10 drugs for which Medicare will negotiate lower prices.

Happy Tuesday! We hope you are having a great week so far. If we can be praying for you this week, please let us know! Cheers to a great rest of the week ahead! 🙏

In This Issue: Embracing the Excitement of College Football | Superlooper Gigabit Loopback Tool | How to Repair Cut Fiber | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Embracing the Excitement of College Football

Good Morning & Happy Tuesday! I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a little extra pep in my step this week as we are right on the cusp of college football starting back this weekend! It’s the kickoff to what I consider “the most wonderful time of the year”!

I’m definitely a “sports person” and enjoy watching everything from baseball to golf and even Nascar, but there’s something extra special about college football, IMO. The passion that the players bring to the field is unmatched and that passion almost seems contagious when you’re a fan! Who doesn’t love watching amateur athletes laying it all on the line out on the field to help bring their school to victory?!

I also love the personal/family connections that so many college football fans have to their favorite teams. I went to UGA and have so many fun memories of tailgating with friends for hours before games, catching the Dawg Walk, and filing into the stadium with 92,000+ other fans to cheer on the Dawgs. The sights, the sounds, and the smells are all firmly entrenched in my memory!

Unfortunately, those student ticket prices go away upon graduation so game days look a lot different these days. I don’t make it to Sanford Stadium as much as I’d like, but we still love to get together as a family on game days, make delicious game day food, and enjoy all the tradition, passion, and intense competition college football has to offer!

Rebecca

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Gigabit Loopback Jack and Plug quickly and easily checks the RX/TX pairs of 1000base network cables, helping a network technician determine if a network signal exists or if there are broken or shorted wires within the cabling. It can be plugged directly into an Ethernet wall port or can be attached to the end of a network patch cable. If a signal is present, the SuperLooper sends the signal back to the source illuminating the port light on the associated switch or router. The Gigabit Loopback Jack and Plug is backward compatible with 10base and 100base networks.

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Learning Center Article – How to Repair Cut Fiber

As we all know, fiber optic lines are complicated, powerful, and delicate. They provide incredibly powerful communication signals with high bandwidths and great reliability. But, because they are so delicate, they can be damaged.

When damage occurs, you can either repair it or replace it, and the former option is much cheaper.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Goldman Sachs said it agreed to sell its personal financial management unit to a competitor named Creative Planning.
• Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming platform Max will feature content from pay TV company AMC Networks between Sept. 1 and Oct. 31.
• IHOP, best known for its pancakes, is making its biscuits menu available nationwide for the first time.
• Google is planning to sell new mapping APIs that would allow companies to build products that use energy and environmental data.
• Chinese carmaker BYD posted a 204.68% jump in profit in the first half of the year driven by record deliveries.

Happy Friday! Indulge in the ultimate ice cream delight, piled high with creamy scoops, luscious toppings, and a perfectly split banana – it’s National Banana Split Day! Grab a spoon and enjoy!

In This Issue: Has your IT budget grown or shrank? | Cisco 7937G Unified IP Conference Phone | Aruba Switches vs Cisco Switches | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Has your IT budget grown or shrank?

Happy Friday, folks! I read the Spiceworks State of IT report recently, which got me thinking about budgets in general. How has your company adjusted its budget this year? Are you seeing changes in IT-related projects, refreshing your networks, or pressing pause on new projects?

The study for this report was conducted in June 2022, so it’s just over a year old. The following image summarizes the entire information quite well:

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the report!

Thanks,

Chris

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Cisco Unified IP phones provide exceptional levels of integrated business functionality and converged communications features, surpassing today’s conventional voice systems and competitive offerings. As the market leader in IP telephony, Cisco continues to deliver comprehensive end-to-end data and true voice-over-IP (VoIP) solutions, offering a complete, stylish, and fully featured IP phone portfolio for enterprise and small- and midsized-business (SMB) customers.

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Learning Center Article – Aruba Switches vs Cisco Switches

When it comes to network switches, the variety of options can be overwhelming. There’s a specific switch for every niche networking role, and there are a dozen different brands making that one class of switch.

Out of all of those options, two leading brands are preferred in many professional networks: Aruba and Cisco. They are industry giants and leaders in many respects. When comparing them directly, it’s clear that you are getting different sets of benefits depending on which you choose.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Warner Bros. Discovery and Mattel’s “Barbie” has topped $575.4 million at the domestic box office, making it the highest-grossing movie of the year in North America.
• Warner Bros. Discovery said it will soon offer CNN Max, a 24/7 live news component on its streaming service Max. CNN Max will launch on Sept. 27.
• Meta’s Twitter clone called Threads, which launched last month and quickly shot up the app rankings, is starting to roll out on the web, giving users access from their PCs. The site, Threads.net, is not live for everyone yet and may still just show a link to download the mobile app. The web version will begin rolling out soon.
• A second Viasat communications satellite is malfunctioning in orbit, this time from the fleet of recently acquired U.K.-based Inmarsat. The I6 F2 satellite, which Inmarsat launched in February, suffered a failure with its power system while climbing in orbit to where it planned to operate as a backup.

Happy Thursday & Happy National Waffle Day! What better day than today to enjoy the fluffy goodness and delightful toppings that you can put on top of a waffle? What are your favorite toppings to enjoy on waffles?

In This Issue: Keeping up with today’s technology! | Cisco Catalyst 2960X FlexStack-Plus Module | Datacenter Airflow Management Guide | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Keeping up with today’s technology!

Happy Thursday!

We hope you’ve all had a great week! Have you checked out our CK Learning Center lately? Having solid IT knowledge is key to staying ahead in today’s ever-changing technology landscape. New, fresh ideas and tested solutions come in handy, whether it is for expanding your network, building out a data center, or solving critical issues that have caused your network to go down.

We add new articles each week on various topics that could be helpful to you in your day-to-day operations. Check it out, and if there’s a topic you’d like more info on, let us know!

Ashley

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The C2960X-STACK module connects to the back of the Catalyst 2960X switch to provide up to 80 Gbps of bidirectional stack bandwidth. It supports the FlexStack-Plus stacking technology, which allows up to 8 switches to be stacked together with a single master switch managing the entire stack. The module can be easily installed or removed without powering off the switch.

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Learning Center Article – Datacenter Airflow Management Guide

Running a data center comes with plenty of challenges. And something that frequently floats to the top of those challenges is heat management. Keeping those powerful devices cool requires careful planning and constant effort. And it gets expensive.

With applied airflow management, you can find solutions that help you stay on top of cooling, keeping costs low, designs efficient, and productivity up.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Roark Capital is buying Subway, ending the sandwich chain’s more than five decades of family ownership.
• Warner Bros. Discovery said it will soon offer CNN Max, a 24/7 live news component on its streaming service Max. CNN Max will launch on Sept. 27.
• Shein and Forever 21 are joining forces. As part of the joint venture, Shein will acquire about a third of Forever 21′s operator, Sparc Group. Sparc will also take a minority stake in Shein. Through the agreement, both brands will have new ways to reach customers.
• CVS Health is partnering with drugmaker Sandoz to produce a near-identical version of the blockbuster arthritis treatment Humira. It will be priced more than 80% lower than the current list price of Humira.

Happy Wednesday! We hope our jokes from last week weren’t too cringy. Here’s a new joke to get you over this mid-week slump: Why was the computer found cold and sneezing? Because someone left it’s Windows open! Now it’s your turn, share your best joke with us!

In This Issue: TV Show Recommendations | Cisco 40GBase-SR4 QSFP+ Transceiver Module | “DHCP vs Static IP | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – TV Show Recommendations

Good morning CK Family! I hope everyone is having a great week.

During this time off with the baby I’ve been finding myself doing more reading and more TV watching (in between naps in effort to catch up on some sleep!). Before Carter was born, I was working to achieve my reading goal for the year but I didn’t watch a ton of TV. Normally if there is any type of sports game on, my husband will have that on for us to watch but lately I’ve had more time to watch some new shows. Lately I’ve been watching Suits and have almost made it to the end if Grey’s Anatomy. Suits is pretty good so far, but I’m only early on in season 3. Grey’s Anatomy feels never ending but I’m so invested (just started season 17!), so I’ve got to see it through.

Do you have any show recommendations?

Ashley

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Our Cisco compatible 40G QSFP+ modules are some of the most popular on the market today and are in many ways comparable to their popular 10G counterpart, SFP-10G-SR. These 40GBase-SR4 modules are parallel optic transceivers which are ideal for short range reaches. These transceivers utilize MPO/MTP connectors, operate on OM3 or OM4 multimode fiber (MMF), and use 850nm lasers.

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Learning Center Article – DHCP vs Static IP

When it comes to managing a network, one of the pivotal aspects is controlling IP addresses. Every device on a network needs an IP address, so how do you assign them?

For the most part, you can choose between DHCP and static IP. Which is right for your network?

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Waiting for Nvidia earnings.
• Peloton reported its results Wednesday for a quarter its CEO warned would be among its most challenging.
• As Amazon tries to get employees back to the office, some staffers are being told to relocate to hubs in different states if they want to keep their jobs.
• Hollywood producers publicly revealed their latest contract proposal as talks between the studios and writers union remain heated.