Archives for September 2023

Happy Wednesday & Happy Pepperoni Pizza Day! A good slice of pepperoni pizza seems like a great way to end a hard day at work. Stop by and pick up your favorite pizza as you head home & enjoy! 🍕

In This Issue: Celebrating Milestones and Embracing the Journey of Motherhood | Cisco Catalyst 9300 Series Switch | Zero Trust Explained | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Celebrating Milestones and Embracing the Journey of Motherhood

Good morning & Happy Wednesday!

I hope everyone is having a great week. Last week, my husband started a new job. He’s loving the job so far and is learning a ton, which I’m grateful for, but it’s a big change from him being home all the time since having Carter. We truly felt so blessed that the timeline of him leaving his last job and starting his new job allowed him to spend almost six weeks at home with our sweet new baby. It was so helpful to have him around to help out with the day-to-day things that come with caring for a newborn and also myself. But now, it’s me and Carter – which is always an adventure!

This week, we’ve welcomed the newfound ability to smile and boy does it just melt my heart when he does. We’re slowly getting on more of a routine of eating, sleeping, and occasionally playing. I’m looking forward to the days when playtime is a little more interactive than it is now, but certainly don’t want to wish these early days away.

All this to say – I’m learning quite a bit in this process of being a new mom. It’s certainly not easy and there are days when the tears flow, but there are many more days when the smiles are big and the amazement at the fact that he’s my kid and I get the joy of spending the next several years walking through life with him watching him grow sets in.

To be totally transparent, I didn’t grow up ever really wanting a kid or desiring to have a kid. I know so many gals I grew up with always dreamed of being a mom, which is amazing but I always felt like the oddball since I didn’t feel that way. I grew up around babies and always helped take care of them and I guess I just felt like that was enough for me. Of course after many conversations with my husband, prayer, and preparation of my heart – here we have Carter and I’m so grateful! Nowadays, it’s just shocking to me that I have a kid who will, when he can talk, call me mom. What a sweet day that will be!

Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful week and a great weekend ahead. If I can be praying for you in any way this week, let me know!

Ashley

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Design a network for the future of hybrid work with the Cisco Catalyst 9300 series of switches. This switch comes with a power supply and 9300 Series Accessory kit including a rack mount kit, power cord, and console cable.

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Learning Center Article – Zero Trust Explained

Network and cyber security are concepts that only grow more difficult with time. For every genius security measure, there’s a brilliant attack, and the escalation never ends.

How can you hope to stay ahead of the game?

Your best bet is to adopt security design philosophies that prevent many problems while dramatically mitigating issues even in the event of security failure. One such philosophy is zero trust, and it’s essential for any high-value or large-scale network.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• The Food and Drug Administration did not approve an epinephrine nasal spray that would have been the first needle-free alternative to epinephrine autoinjectors, including EpiPens. The agency told drugmaker ARS Pharmaceuticals that it needed to conduct another study on the drug.
• Amazon announced they are hiring 250,000 employees in the U.S. to help manage the holiday rush. It’s also bumping the average hourly pay for warehouse and delivery workers.
• A real-life bear found itself a few paw steps away from the Country Bear Jamboree at Walt Disney World. Disney World delayed the opening of Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland, Liberty Square, and Adventureland. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission safely captured and removed the bear from the park.
• Mark Thompson, a former New York Times CEO, will begin as CNN’s CEO on October 9th. He reports that he will be focusing on turning CNN into a sustainable business.

Happy Ahoy there, me hearties! Let’s hoist the Jolly Roger and navigate through the treacherous waters of curiosity, for today be National Talk Like a Pirate Day! May the winds of knowledge be in our favor, and may yer Tuesday be filled with joy and discovery. 🏴‍☠️

In This Issue: Work & Faith: Reflecting on the Value of Work | Ultra-High-Definition AOC HDMI Cable | The Benefits of Using a Managed Switch | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Work & Faith: Reflecting on the Value of Work

Good Morning & Happy Tuesday! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Over the weekend I was in a conversation with someone and the topic of work came up. I mentioned that work is something very important to me, that I believe there’s dignity in work, and that I would probably lose my mind if I wasn’t working. The person I was speaking with couldn’t have disagreed more. They mentioned that they would be perfectly happy if they never worked another day in their life, they get no satisfaction from work, and I got the impression that they operate daily out of a mentality of trying to skirt work as much as possible (not just vocationally, but around the house, etc).

While it’s pretty normal to not want to work ALL the time, the idea of NEVER wanting to work was so foreign to me that it almost felt shocking. The conversation really stuck with me and caused me to give some deeper thought into the subject of work. What are my beliefs surrounding it? Where those beliefs come from? Am I intentionally living in a way that’s consistent with those beliefs?

As a (very imperfect) Christ follower, the Bible is central in shaping my views and perspectives on pretty much everything and, as it turns out, it has a lot to say about work. There’s way more to discuss than could be fit into this CK daily, but suffice it to say that work was very clearly part of God’s plan from the beginning and it’s clear that our work matters to God.

What really challenged me was reading Colossians 3:23-24 which states:
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

Although that verse has been drilled into me since childhood, it’s easy to forget sometimes just who we are working for and how much our work does matter to God. It’s a good reminder that we should strive to work with excellence and be the best we can at whatever job we’re doing. While there’s no doubt that I’ll continue to fall short, I’m taping this verse to my monitor as a daily reminder!

Rebecca

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Take your A/V experience to the next level with our Ultra High Definition AOC HDMI cables. Unlike standard HDMI cables, these AOC cables transmit high-quality audio and video signals over fiber optic strands at speeds of up to 48 Gbps. These cables are perfect for a wide range of uses from AV installations to home use!

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Learning Center Article – The Benefits of Using a Managed Switch

When you’re choosing networking equipment, one concept you will come up against is managed and unmanaged switches.

Which is better?

In most cases, managed switches are the way to go, but to truly understand why, you should take a minute to learn more about what managed switches are, how they work, and how they benefit a network.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• The crash site for a Marine Corps F-35 stealth fighter jet that went missing during the weekend after its pilot ejected was located Monday in rural South Carolina after the military asked the public for help finding an aircraft built to elude detection.
• Apple released iOS 17 for iPhones, its biggest software update of the year. It’s available to anyone with an iPhone released in 2018 or later. This year’s update has a lot of improvements to some of the most used apps, including the Phone app, Messages and Safari.
• Homebuilder sentiment has gone negative for the first time in 7 months. Builder confidence in the single-family housing market fell 5 points in September to 45. Fifty is the line between positive and negative sentiment.
• Elon Musk reported X is “moving to having a small, monthly payment for use of the X system” and said the social network now has 550 million monthly users.

Happy Monday & Happy Birthday to the United States Air Force! We’re so grateful to all who serve in the military to protect us and our beautiful country. We hope everyone has a great week!

In This Issue: Tech Nostalgia and Sweet Promises | 9U Swing-Out Wall Mount Cabinet | 9 Common Mistakes in Fiber Optic Installation and How to Avoid Them | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Tech Nostalgia and Sweet Promises

Happy Monday!

I had a chat with Chris last week about Dell (“Dude, you’re getting a Dell”) and their branding, and that chat led us somehow to Gateway Computers. Back in the mid-90s, I had a friend that just got a Gateway computer and I think it was the first time I’d seen a fully assembled desktop. I distinctly remembered the dairy cow, black and white, print box; that’s branding I’ll never forget.

I also remember going over to my friend’s house to play Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? for hours on end. I think that might have been the first game on a CD-ROM, which was pretty advanced technology for its time. The 3.5” floppy disk was what I was used to before CDs came out, and I remember 5” floppy disks as well. It’s crazy now we pretty much have no disks, everything is solid-state or flash! What’s even more crazy is you can still buy floppy disk drives and floppy disks, I guess some things never die.

Thanks for taking this trip down memory lane with me. I hope we do a great job in branding such that you’ll never forget the first pack of M&Ms you received on your first order. And if for some terrible reason, you didn’t get your M&Ms, let me know and we’ll make it right! I hope you have a great day and a great week!

Cris

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Installation and management of cables is a huge task for technicians managing the networking equipment in an environment where connected wires are just very common. An organized cabling not only looks neat and tidy but is also critical in ensuring the smooth operations of the network. This is where 3131-3-001-09 LINIER Swing-Out Wall Mount Cabinet comes to the rescue. The cabinet has been designed to provide a space- saving solution that keeps your cabling organized and protected, thereby providing easier access for maintenance and upgrades.

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Learning Center Article – 9 Common Mistakes in Fiber Optic Installation and How to Avoid Them

Fiber optics are still the best way to transmit digital information at extremely high speeds and across long distances. If you need to use fiber optics, then you have some work to do.

The networks don’t design themselves, and installing them requires knowledge and experience.

To that end, a few tips can go a long way and help you avoid some of the most common mistakes. So, below, you’ll find 9 of the most common mistakes when installing fiber optics and how you can avoid them.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• U.S. asks for help finding missing F-35 fighter jet after pilot ejects during ‘mishap’. The jet was left in autopilot mode so there’s a possibility it could still be airborne somewhere over South Carolina.
• The 2nd Generation AirPods Pro with USB-C don’t have any radical hardware changes.But a slew of software features launching alongside the new AirPods significantly change how noise-canceling on the wireless buds works in practice, and will make it much easier for AirPods Pro users to leave their earbuds in all day while navigating cities or talking to co-workers.
• Clorox has warned of a material financial hit from ongoing production disruptions caused by a cyberattack last month. They are unsure of when they will be able to resume normal operations.
• The California minimum wage for fast-food workers is on track to rise to $20 an hour next April. The pay hike is part of deal between the restaurant industry and labor groups over controversial legislation in California.

Happy Friday! We hope you had a wonderful week. We hope that this weekend is filled with football, relaxing, and time with family & friends. Cheers!

In This Issue: We’d love to hear from you! | Nexus 3000 Accessory Kit | How to Calculate PoE Budgets | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – We’d love to hear from you!

Happy Friday!

Yesterday Joi requested some feedback from you all on your overall experience when working with all of us at CablesAndKits.

She asked:

What do you think makes a great customer experience? Is there something specific we could do better, an area where we may have dropped the ball, or something we are excelling at?

We value your feedback greatly and want to make sure we keep the door open for feedback always. If you wouldn’t mind taking a few moments to respond to this email, we’d love to hear from you!

The CK Team

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Nexus 3000 Accessory Kit, N3K-C3064-ACC-KIT, is specifically designed for the Cisco Nexus 3000 Series switches which have been purpose-built for critical business applications. The Nexus 3000 is a series of heavy-duty switches that are programmed to handle large amounts of data, the accessory kit developed therefore includes all the necessary accessories that are required to enhance the functionality and deployment of the Nexus 3000 switches.

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Learning Center Article – How to Calculate PoE Budgets

PoE is one of the greatest things in networking. It allows you to power a device with an Ethernet cable. This cuts on infrastructure costs and gives you a ton more flexibility in how you design a network.

But, PoE does have limitations. You can only draw so much power from a single switch, and figuring that out is essential for network design. To help you with that, you can calculate your PoE budget, and that’s what this tutorial is all about.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Spirit Airlines announced its pilot training pipeline program is coming to Liberty University. The school is the 10th partner for the Spirit Wings Pilot Pathway program.
• DoorDash will transfer its listing from the New York Stock Exchange to the Nasdaq.
• There will be a new way to watch the NFL when the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars square off in their Week 4 matchup at Wembley Stadium in London, as ESPN and Disney will air “Toy Story Funday Football,” putting the stars of the international game in one of the most iconic animated movie franchises.
• Oil prices climbed to their highest level of the year this week, extending a rally that has put a return to $100 a barrel sharply into focus.

Happy Thursday & Happy National School Picture Day! Whether you wanted to take them or not, they happened each year. Dig out those old pictures and share them with us. We’d love to see those pearly whites!

In This Issue: Your Experience Matters to Us! | Cisco 3850 1100WAC Power Supply | Ethernet Vs WiFi – Pros and Cons | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Your Experience Matters to Us!

Happy Thursday!

As the Customer Solutions Manager here at CablesAndKits, I have had the chance to work with many of you. So this week I want to focus my CK Daily on you!

One of my favorite aspects of my role is reading your reviews and responses. Your feedback helps us improve our customer experience. Whether it’s constructive criticism, praise, or even just a friendly hello, your input matters immensely.

Lately, we’ve noticed a slight dip in the frequency of feedback, and that’s why I’m reaching out to you today. I genuinely want to hear from you! Your feedback pushes us towards our goal of providing the best possible service. So, please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts, experiences, and suggestions with us.

To help start this conversation, I’d like to ask: What do you think makes a great customer experience? Is there something specific we could do better, an area where we may have dropped the ball, or something we are excelling at? Your input will help us continue to grow and serve you better.

Your voice matters and we are here to listen. You can reach out through our website, social media channels, or by simply responding to this email. I look forward to hearing from you and working together to create an even better customer experience.

Joi

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The PWR-C1-1100WAC is a power supply unit (PSU) manufactured by Cisco Systems designed to be used with Cisco Catalyst 3850 Series Switches, providing reliable and efficient power for network devices.

This power supply has a maximum power range of 1100 W and supports an AC input voltage range of 100-240V and frequency auto-ranging from 50-60 Hz. It also features a hot-swappable capability, which enables it to be replaced while the system is running, without affecting the operation of the connected network devices.

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Learning Center Article – Ethernet Vs WiFi – Pros and Cons

When you need to run a network at a location, you have to make a decision. What hardware will you use? There are too many options to summarize them all, and you want to make sure your network will be effective and affordable.

In many cases, you will have to choose between Wi-Fi and Ethernet connections, and it’s not always obvious which choice is correct.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• New York Jets star quarterback Aaron Rodgers has vowed to “rise yet again” after he tore an Achilles tendon Monday, which will sideline him for the entire season.
• Apple has announced iOS 17 will be available for users to download on Sept. 18.
• Amazon is rolling out a generative AI tool for sellers to help them generate copy for product titles and listings.
• Birkenstock, the iconic footwear company that dates back to the 18th century, is planning an initial public offering. The brand received an extra push from its recent role in the wildly popular movie “Barbie.”

Happy Wednesday & Happy “you get a car” day! On this day, in 2004, Oprah gave a car to everyone in her studio audience – 276 cars to be exact.

In This Issue: New Goals & a Progress Update | Cisco 16Port Asynchronous High Speed WAN Interface Card | How MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) Works | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – New Goals & a Progress Update

Hello & Happy Wednesday!

Checking in with you all this morning on a few of my goals for the year, one in particular being my reading goal. As you may remember, my goal is to read 26 books this year. As of today, I am at 23, and hopefully by the end of today, 24! I think I can confidently say, I’m going to crush my goal of 26.
As I’ve been reading different books, some that you all have recommended, I think I’m learning what genres I enjoy over others. Some days, there are books that I don’t want to put down. They get me hooked and keep me on my toes wanting to know what’s going to happen next.

I recently read Kill Joy by Holly Jackson. It was a quick read, but SO good. I highly recommend it.

A new goal I’ve set for myself between now and the end of the year is to find or discover what my true hobbies are or one that I can really enjoy after a day of work. Having a newborn really sucks the day away sometimes, but I want to make sure I’m taking care of myself and doing things that I enjoy as well. I have several things I typically find myself doing, but I’m really looking for that one thing that allows me some time to rest my mind and decompress. Any recommendations?

I hope you have a wonderful week and a great weekend ahead!

Ashley

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Product Spotlights & Updates

This HWIC-16A provides flexible connections for Cisco integrated routers. It enables customers to enable applications such as WAN aggregation, legacy protocol transport, console server, and dial access server. This asynchronous high-speed WAN interface card allows for mixing and matching the HWIC to tailor cost-effective solutions such as remote network management, external dial modem access, low-density WAN aggregation, legacy protocol transport, and high port density support.

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Learning Center Article – How MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) Works

Enterprise networks are often tasked with bringing a bunch of smaller networks together. This could include connecting branch offices, different buildings on a campus, or remote monitoring stations. There are many ways it comes together.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• The main ingredient used in many popular over-the-counter cold and allergy medications doesn’t actually work, an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration said. The FDA could potentially begin a process that removes phenylephrine from the market, which would force manufacturers to pull cough and cold medications from store shelves.
• Target said it has struck a long-term deal with Kendra Scott to carry exclusive collections of earrings, necklaces and more. The jewelry will debut online and at about 150 stores as Target gears up for the holidays.
• Apple held its annual iPhone launch event Tuesday at Apple Park. Read more about it here.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that all Americans ages 6 months and older receive updated Covid shots from Pfizer and Moderna.