CablesAndKits Blog

Happy Wednesday! We’re halfway through the week. We hope you’re having a great week so far and that you’ve been able to accomplish all that you’ve hoped so far this week. The weekend is on the horizon, hang in there!

In This Issue: The Joys of Home | Cisco Compatible 40GBase-SR4 QSFP+ Transceiver Module | Selecting the Right PoE Switches for Your IP Camera Network | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – The Joys of Home

Hello & Happy Wednesday!

I hope everyone has had a great week. This week has felt a bit slow for me, but I think it’s because of the time change. I’m not a big fan of it being so dark in the evenings, but I do enjoy the lighter mornings. I’m hoping it’ll encourage me to take advantage of them more. I will say the time change has thrown the routine of my kiddo way off. His routine is all over the place in general, but it’s really all sorts of wacky now.

This weekend was good. My husband and I have been so go-go-go lately that it was nice to take a weekend to head to my parent’s house and hang out. It was a great weekend of games, football, and a fun trip to Target! I think my favorite part of being home is that Carter gets to experience the same fun that I did growing up. Nothing brings me more joy than him getting to spend time with his grandparents, aunts and uncles, and my brothers when they are home – and I’m sure one day he will grow to love it even more than he does now!

Anyway, hope you have a great rest of the week and are looking forward to the weekend ahead!

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 – Selecting the Right PoE Switches for Your IP Camera Network

Cameras are useful devices, and a lot of businesses need to deploy an array of them in order to keep a sharp eye on things. Usually for security reasons, a good ring of security cameras can prove invaluable.

But, connecting them and setting them up is not always simple. You have to figure out how to record what they see, how to power them, and how to manage them in general.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Google’s traffic navigation app Waze will now warn you when you are driving on a road with a history of crashes.
• Food-delivery startup Wonder Group has gotten a $100 million investment from Nestle.
• Amazon is sweetening its Prime membership program with discounted One Medical memberships.
• Nintendo said on Wednesday it plans to develop a live-action film of The Legend of Zelda, one of its most popular characters.

Happy Tuesday! Yesterday felt like a super long day. Did anyone else feel the same? Here’s to hoping the longer days bring great fruits and complete to-do lists!

In This Issue: Embracing Fall, Softball Triumphs & a Dash of Early Christmas Cheer | Cisco DB9 Female to RJ45 Female Console Adapter | FAQ: What is LCP (Link Control Protocol) | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Embracing Fall, Softball Triumphs & a Dash of Early Christmas Cheer

Good Morning & Happy Tuesday! Hope everyone is off to a great start to the week! It feels like the past few weeks have been so busy and have just flown by! I’m definitely finding myself feeling a bit more exhausted than usual. Unlike Cris, I despise the Fall time change and the shorter days, but looking for a silver lining here so I’m hoping maybe I’ll get a bit more sleep with it getting dark earlier!

We had a fun weekend around here. On Saturday I went to watch one of my best friends’ daughter play in a softball tournament and they did great! They ended up winning the tournament for their bracket which is awesome. I also went ahead and started decorating for Christmas. I know it’s early, but this has been one heck of a year and I need some joy and twinkling lights in my life! 😉

Hope everyone has a great week!

Rebecca

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Working in IT, you know how important it is to have flexible solutions to everyday problems. That includes using modular adapters as a cost-effective solution for completing complex connections. This Cisco adapter is a straight-through DB9 Female to RJ45 Female, perfect for connecting desktop terminals back to a central patch panel. You never know when hooking up one of these devices might require an adaptor.

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Learning Center Article – FAQ: What is LCP (Link Control Protocol)

As you peel back layers and get deeper into networking and theory, you have to learn about protocols. There are a lot of protocols out there. Each is designed with specific ideas in mind, and ultimately, the internet uses pretty much all of them at one point or another.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• In a world first, artificial intelligence demonstrated the ability to negotiate a contract autonomously with another artificial intelligence without any human involvement. At Luminance’s London headquarters, the company demonstrated its AI, called Autopilot, negotiating a non-disclosure agreement in a matter of minutes. It marks the first time an AI has ever negotiated a contract with another AI, with no human involved.
• Office-sharing company WeWork filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in federal court on Monday.
• Stellantis plans to produce an industry-first pickup for its Ram Trucks brand that’s equipped with an onboard gas engine and electric generator.
• OpenAI announced its new, more powerful GPT-4 Turbo artificial intelligence model during its first in-person event. It revealed a new option that will let developers create custom versions of its viral ChatGPT chatbot.

Happy Monday! We hope you had a wonderful weekend and, for those who needed to, remembered to turn your clocks back. Wishing you a great week ahead!

In This Issue: A Low-key Weekend | CAB-TA-NA AC Power Cord | FAQ: MDF vs IDF | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – A Lowkey Weekend

Happy Monday!

This weekend was pretty lowkey for my family. It’s been a bit warmer down south and we spent a lot of time outdoors at the park. The time change has finally arrived with daylight saving time finally ending. I like this time change the best and I wish it would just stay this way for the whole year.

There’s actually been local legislation proposed on the state level to make one or the other permanent. Every year it’s talked about, but it’s never actually passed. If they do pass it, I hope it’s for not changing the time at all after November 5th. It still boggles my mind we still have to have a time change. I read some statistics that changing to daylight savings time increases mortality and also increases the occurrence of heart attacks! That’s a crazy statistic.

Well, I hope you all enjoyed an extra hour of sleep (and for those in Arizona and Hawaii that don’t observe it, good on you and enjoy your business like usual for the day) and have a great and wonderful week!

Cris

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Step into the world of the Model CAB-TA-NA AC Power Cord – US edition. This 8-foot power cord, elegantly presented in black, is designed to effortlessly align with your setup. It ensures a consistent and dependable power supply to your equipment. Engineered for compatibility, this power cord is optimized to perfectly complement your Cisco devices.

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Learning Center Article – FAQ: MDF vs IDF

In the world of IT, acronyms are everywhere. It can be hard to keep up, so sometimes, you need to break down the acronyms to solidify what they mean and why they matter.

Applying that idea, today, we’re going to talk about MDF and IDF. These are key areas in large-scale networks, and while they sound similar in name (and appear similar in function), the key distinctions between them mean everything.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Walmart shares hit an all-time high. The big-box retailer has leaned on its grocery business and its low-price reputation to attract shoppers, including more high-income households, during an inflationary period.
• Buy now, pay later firm Klarna has begun a legal entity restructuring to set up a new holding company in the U.K., as a precursor to an eventual IPO.
• Google is set to face Epic Games in its second antitrust trial to kick off in two months.
• xAI, Elon Musk’s new AI venture, launched its first AI chatbot technology named Grok. The prototype is in its first two months of training and is only available to a select group of users before a wider release.

Happy Friday! We hope you have plans to have a wonderful weekend ahead. Don’t forget this weekend we “fall back”! Make sure you change your clocks!

In This Issue: Is it time to decorate for Christmas? | HP BL460c Server | What does the equals sign mean in a Cisco part number? | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Is it time to decorate for Christmas?

Happy Friday, folks! November is here, and it’s time to start thinking about…Christmas! I’m not talking about presents or food, but decorations. Is it too early to put out Christmas decorations? I don’t think so!

Over dinner last night, our family discussed when we should put them out. We decided the sooner, the better, which means this will be a Saturday morning event at our house. I love the feeling of seeing Christmas decorations out everywhere!

I ran across an NBC post where you can vote. It seems the votes are split evenly between it’s never too early to decorate, and you should wait till after Thanksgiving. So what do you think? Is it too early to put out Christmas decorations?

Have a great weekend!

Chris

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Blade servers are specifically designed to pack a lot of power in a small space. Blade servers can be used as a dedicated server or added to a virtual environment. The user is able to condense their server footprint and easily manage multiple servers from one point. Since they are smaller in nature, they have a better overall power consumption. The BL460c G8 is equipped with two small form factor (SFF) hot-plug drive bays, SD card slot, two (2) PCIe 3.0 mezzanine I/O expansion slots, and sixteen memory slots.

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Learning Center Article – What Does the Equals Sign Mean in a Cisco Part Number?

When you need to repair or replace electronic equipment, compatibility is everything. You could get a replacement that looks absolutely right in the pictures, but when you try to use it, something goes wrong.

In order to ensure compatibility, the best option is usually to match part numbers. That way, you don’t have to worry about what looks right; the manufacturer is telling you what does and doesn’t match.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Starbucks plans to add about 17,000 locations by 2030 and to cut costs by $3 billion.
• The U.S. economy saw job creation decelerate in October and the unemployment rate rose to 3.9%.
• As the US gears up for a winter heavily influenced by the first strong El Niño in years, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have released maps that offer insight into where snow could pile up. Read more here.
• Mariah Carey is facing another copyright lawsuit over her hit 1994 song “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”

Happy Thursday! We hope you’ve had a wonderful week. The weekend is on the horizon. Do you have any upcoming weekend plans?

In This Issue: Change & the Beauty of the Smokeys | Cisco 10GBase-SR SFP+ Modules | What Are the Wi-Fi 5 vs Wi-Fi 6 Standards? | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Change & the Beauty of the Smokeys

Happy Thursday and a wonderful hello!

Has anyone experienced a lot of change in their life recently? I know I have. This is my first time writing in the CK daily and it has been a big change for me. It is not something I normally do as it is out of my comfort zone, but change is also a good thing and makes us grow as individuals.

Another huge change I recently experienced was moving from Georgia to Tennessee at the beginning of October. What a wonderful time of year to move as it is not too hot nor too cold, plus you get to see the gorgeous colors of all the leaves that the Smokeys have to offer. Not only was the move a change, but I went from working in CK’s wonderful warehouse for many years now to working remotely. The move and transition to working remotely went very smoothly, and I owe it to family, friends, and coworkers helping with everything.

I am glad my family is mostly settled and unpacked now and can enjoy the beautiful outdoor scenery and everything that Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge have to offer. Speaking of beauty, they are already setting up all the Christmas lights for the parade in Pigeon Forge so that has me excited. If you have never been to Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg during Christmas time, I think you are missing out. I hope everyone has a wonderful remainder of the week and it is almost FRIDAY!

Robert

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Cisco SFP-10G-SR module gives you a wide variety of 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity options for your data center, enterprise wiring closet, and service provider transport applications. The SFP-10G module boasts a variety of features and benefits, including being the industry’s smallest form factor, which results in the greatest density per chassis. The SFP-10G-SR is hot-swappable and can be switched out with ease.

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Learning Center Article – What Are the Wi-Fi 5 vs Wi-Fi 6 Standards?

IWe all need good Wi-Fi, but if you’re not steeped in IT knowledge, you might not know what’s out there. For instance, did you know that soon the seventh generation of Wi-Fi will be released to the world? Did you even know that there were different types of Wi-Fi?

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Disney will now own all of Hulu after agreeing to purchase the remaining one-third stake from Comcast’s NBCUniversal.
• Amazon is rolling out its first buy now, pay later checkout option for the millions of small business owners that use its online store
• Scarlett Johansson has taken legal action against an AI app that used her name and likeness in an online advertisement without permission.
• A tarantula crossing a road to find a mate caused a traffic accident in California’s Death Valley National Park that hospitalized one motorist and prompted warnings from park officials.

Happy Wednesday & Happy November 1st? The radio is officially playing holiday music and we are here for it! Is anyone putting up the Christmas Tree this week? 🎄

In This Issue: Football, Family & Hello to the Holiday Season | OM3 LC-LC Fiber Patch Cables | What are the common wireless standards? | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Football, Family & Hello to the Holiday Season 🎄

Good morning & Happy Wednesday!

It’s a nice cool morning this morning and I am loving it! My husband called me on his way into the office the morning and let me know that Christmas music was on the radio and boy did that make me happy. I have been looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas this year more than ever because this year we get to make all the magical things even more magical for our little guy. Lights, music, dancing around the living room – all these things are going to be just a little sweeter this year!

This past weekend was a good one! We did quite a bit of housework on Saturday and then on Sunday we took a little break and went to Charlotte to watch the Carolina Panthers play the Texans. Truthfully, we didn’t go in with high hopes that they would win because the season hasn’t been off to the best start. But – they found their grove and pulled out a nail-biting win at the very end! It was a blast! We were able to spend some time away from our little guy, a “Mom & Dad’s day out” if you will, and it was nice to be able to just enjoy time together watching a team we love cheering for.

This weekend we’re taking a little bit of a long weekend and are heading to my parent’s house to enjoy some time with them and my aunt and uncle. It’s always a great time when we go to their house as we play games, enjoy great meals, and sometimes make our way to our local brewery.
As we head into the holiday season, I always like to remind myself to slow down and enjoy it. I feel like it’s such a sweet season but it can zoom right by if we’re not careful. There are so many pieces of this holiday season that I love and I want to make sure I’m soaking it all up – I hope you do the same.

I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week ahead!

Ashley

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Fiber optic cabling is the medium of choice for longer-distance and challenging cabling runs. These cables are thinner than copper patch cords and immune to EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) making them perfect for riser runs and uplink cables.

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Learning Center Article – What are the common wireless standards?

If you have ever worked with wireless networking, you have probably seen standards. These are things that start with IEEE and the number “802,” and until you know more of the specifics, they seem like confusing serial numbers.

It turns out that these designations are identifying wireless network standards, and when you know about those standards, you can design your network around these key terms.

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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 decreased to 7.86% from 7.90%. The ARM share of mortgage applications is now at the highest level in nearly a year.
• An immersive-technology company called Cosm will open its first two venues in 2024, allowing sports fans to watch live games in domes filled with 8K screens.
• Microsoft’s Windows 11 update marks the debut of the Windows Copilot which can perform operating-system functions and answer questions with the help of web information. Copilot is a generative artificial intelligence that can create human-like text and other content with just a few words of human direction.
• CVS reported third-quarter adjusted earnings and revenue that topped Wall Street’s expectations. The results come one quarter after CVS launched a sweeping cost-cutting program as part of its push to transform from a major drugstore chain to a large health-care company.