CablesAndKits Blog

Happy Wednesday! If there’s any way we can be praying for you this week, let us know. We hope the rest of your week proves to be fruitful!

In This Issue: Book Recommendations | Dell PowerEdge T710 Gold Series Tower Server | How to Repair Cut Fiber | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Book Reccomendations

Happy Wednesday! I hope everyone is having a great week and have recovered from the sugar high we kicked off the week with.

I’m on a mission to finish my book goal for the year, but need some book recommendations! I’m open to your suggestions. I find myself leaning toward historical fiction or any kind of mystery but also have enjoyed reading various self-help books.

I’m about to dive into Every Good Endeavor by Tim Keller but want to prepare for my next read. So, please send any and all recommendations!

Have a great rest of the week!

Ashley

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Dell PowerEdge T710 servers were developed with purposeful design, energy-optimized technology, advanced virtualization capabilities, and simplified systems management. These servers provide awesome performance and are a perfect fit for enterprises, remote workgroups, and expanding businesses.

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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. Here are the steps to repair a cut fiber cable.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Tiger Woods’ and Rory McIlroy’s new sports startup is drawing some big-name investors. TMRW Sports announced a new investment group that includes basketball great Stephen Curry, race car driver Lewis Hamilton, women’s soccer player Alex Morgan, pro football’s Tony Romo and Josh Allen, Justin Timberlake, and Serena Williams, in addition to several professional team sports owners.
• Mortgage rates dropped for the first time in more than two months, but demand continued to weaken. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($647,200 or less) decreased to 7.06% from 7.16%. Mortgage applications to buy a home fell 1% for the week and were 41% lower year over year.
• Former Yext CEO Howard Lerman has spent over a year creating Roam, a virtual office interface that allows employees to communicate less formally and more efficiently. Roam functions like an office building in the cloud, and a beta version of the platform launched Wednesday morning.
• The Biden administration is providing over $13 billion in aid to help low- and moderate-income Americans lower their energy costs, including grants to pay electric bills as well other incentives to make energy-efficient upgrades to their homes.

Happy National Calzone Day! Stuffed with cheese and all of your favorite toppings – this mouth-watering wonder is a dinner-time staple!

In This Issue: A Memory Filled Trip | Cisco 100GBASE CWDM4 Lite QSFP Transceiver | “S-Class” Transceivers vs Non “S-Class” Transceivers | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – A Memory Filled Trip

Good Morning and Happy Tuesday! BIG shout out to Ashley for writing for me last week! I took the week off for a vacation on Hilton Head Island. If you’ve been reading the CK Daily for a while, you know that’s pretty much my top destination if I’m out of town! We took a family trip there and brought along my 8-year-old nephew which made it even more special. He came with us for the first time last year and loved it, so we had to bring him back!

The week absolutely FLEW by… I guess it’s true that time flies when you’re having fun! The weather was perfect so we got to spend a lot of time outside riding bikes, walking, and of course, I got in quite a few miles running! We also did a TON of eating… the food down there is just irresistibly good and I basically told myself vacation calories don’t count, so I enjoyed every bite!

It truly was an ideal trip and I’m so glad for the time off and the memories made! Looking forward to being back in the swing of things this week, though!

Rebecca

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Cisco QSFP-100G-SM-SR is a 100GBase-CWDM4 Lite QSFP transceiver module. It supports a link length of up to 2 km utilizing single-mode fiber (SMF). This transceiver features LC duplex connectors. It carries the 100G signal over 4 wavelengths, utilizing multiplexing and demultiplexing technology. This module is interoperable with the QSFP-100G-CWDM4-S.

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Learning Center Article – “S-Class” Transceivers vs Non “S-Class” Transceivers

When designing high-speed connections, 10G and 40G transceivers have to be carefully selected. Optimizing modules can improve performance and will absolutely impact cost-efficiency. That is why it is so important to distinguish between the various transceiver options. In this case, we can take a close look at the difference between S-Class and non-S-Class Cisco modules.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• This year’s Halloween spirit was out of this world. Ahead of the costume and candy-filled celebration, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured an image of the sun “smiling” – an image that acclaimed cosmologist compared to a “giant space pumpkin.”
• Taylor Swift has taken the top 10 sopts of the Billboard Hot 100 with songs from her album “Midnights.” Swift is the first artist to ever achieve the feat. She also announced the “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour,” her first major tour in nearly five years.
• Twitter’s new owner and CEO, Elon Musk, is thinking about bringing back Vine, the short-form video app that Twitter bought and abandoned long before TikTok made the format popular.
• A California man was charged today with assault and attempted kidnapping in violation of federal law in connection with the break-in at the residence of Nancy and Paul Pelosi in San Francisco on Friday.

Happy Friday! We hope you’ve had a great week. We wish you a safe and spooky weekend as many of you kick off your Halloween festivities. We hope you enjoy the smiles of all the trick-or-treaters that knock on your door!

In This Issue: CK Anniversary | Cisco XENPAK 10 Gigabit Transceiver Module | Layer 2 vs Layer 3 Switches: Which is best for your network? | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – CK Anniversary

Happy Friday, folks! CablesAndKits is officially an adult! What does this mean? I’m glad you asked. The parent company of CablesAndKits, Atlantech Resellers, started in October 2001, so the company is turning 21 years old this month.

What’s even more exciting is that over 150,000 customers, including YOU, have trusted us to supply IT-related equipment for your projects over this time. While it’s fun to celebrate, this celebration would not occur without YOU.

So while we’re turning 21 this year, we are more excited than ever to continue serving all of our customers who have trusted us over these years.

Have a great weekend!

Chris

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Cisco 10GBASE-SR Module supports a link length of 300 meters on 50 or 62.5-micron OM3 multi-mode fiber or 400 meters on OM4. Hot-swappable input/output device plugs into an Ethernet XENPAK port of a Cisco switch or router to link the port with the network.

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Learning Center Article – Layer 2 vs Layer 3 Switches: Which is best for your network?

When it comes to network switches, you have a lot of options. Finding the perfect switch for every occasion can be a monstrous task. Sometimes, the easiest way to find a good choice is to take a step back and learn more about the primary differences that exist between switches.

One major difference that you will see is the OSI connection layer. Most of the switches you will see will be labeled as either Layer 2 or Layer 3. When you take a deeper look at the key aspects of each layer, you can make an informed decision that ensures you have the right equipment for the job at hand.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• The Houston Astros, the No. 1 seed in the American League playoffs, will go into Friday’s Game 1 tipped by most to win the franchise’s second World Series crown. However, the Philadelphia Phillies have already upset the odds three times en route to the Fall Classic, entering the National League playoffs as the lowest seed of the six teams. The Astros, who have now reached the World Series for the fourth time in six years, are rightly considered favorites after going undefeated in the playoffs, sweeping the Seattle Mariners and the New York Yankees.
• Lego’s Mindstorms robotics kits have been on the market since 1998, born from a collaboration between Lego and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Now, Lego has announced it will be discontinuing Mindstorms at the end of the year and providing support for the mobile app for at least another two years beyond that.
• Andy Warhol may be best known for his pop art iconography of Marilyn Monroe, Chairman Mao and Campbell’s soup cans, but next month, a “haunting” silkscreen print of a mangled car crash will be up for sale at Sotheby’s in New York. On November 16 during the auction house’s marquee week, It is expected to sell for upwards of $80 million
• North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea on Friday in its first ballistic weapons launch in two weeks, as the U.S. military warned the North that the use of nuclear weapons.

Happy National Black Cat Day! Black cats are one of the least adopted animals due to the myth and mystery behind them. Do you have a black cat? Send us a photo!

In This Issue: A Bit Overwhelmed | Cisco 3560-X/3750-X Series NM Slot Cover | How to Choose the Right Fiber Connector: PC vs UPC vs APC | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – A Bit Overwhelmed

Happy Thursday!

I hope everyone’s week is going well for them. My week has been one of those weeks full of opportunities for growth and learning (aka…lots of unexpected issues, trials, and things not going as planned). Haha! I feel like every day I have had to reset my expectations of what needs to be done due to things going “bump in the night” the day before. I am usually pretty good at juggling things, managing tasks, and rolling with the punches when things don’t go right but this week has been so full of issues and things not going as planned. Some days (and weeks…maybe months…lol!) we are just going to feel overwhelmed and not know what to do when things keep going wrong. It is a crazy feeling when you feel like no matter what you do and how good at your job you are, you feel out of control.

Yesterday morning, I had to take a step back, take a deep breath, and tell myself, “It’s all good, everything will work out, and just focus on one thing at a time.” I was walking the dog, thinking about everything, and I remember whispering to myself, “Ok Lord, I need some help and guidance here cause I can’t keep up with all of this.” Things didn’t immediately change when I got back to my office, but my perspective had changed. I was reminded that I was not in this by myself, and things might not go as planned, but that was ok, and there was probably a better way to handle all the issues than I had originally planned. I just got to take it one step at a time and keep my mind and emotions in check with all of it.

Have you ever had one of those days, weeks, or months like that?

I hope everyone is having an amazing week and has a great weekend!

Jason

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Cisco 3560-X/3750-X series network module blank is used to fill in the space left when a network module is removed. Covering all open slots on your switch makes the unit more attractive and improves airflow making your unit run better and last longer.

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Learning Center Article – How to Choose the Right Fiber Connector: PC vs UPC vs APC

When joining fiber optic cables, connectors are everything. These highly sensitive networks live or die by how cleanly and efficiently the cables join inside of the connector. Because of that, there are many different connector designs, each catering to different uses and design philosophies.

One common philosophy is to focus on physical contact between the fibers. Doing so is difficult, as at least some air gap tends to exist inside the connector. To combat that and the signal disruption that comes with air gaps, three types of physical contact connectors are used in a wide range of systems. These are PC, UPC, and APC connectors.

If you are trying to determine which is best for your system, a quick comparison can help with your selection.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has paid a visit to Twitter’s headquarters before a Friday court-ordered deadline to close his $44bn deal for the United States-based social media giant. “Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!” said the caption of a video that Musk tweeted on Wednesday in which he was walking into the offices in San Francisco carrying a sink.
• There is no lucky ticket holder in Wednesday’s huge Powerball drawing, and the jackpot has grown to an estimated $800 million.
• Antarctica’s emperor penguin is officially at risk of extinction due to rising global temperatures and sea ice loss.
• Gross domestic product rose 2.6% in the third quarter versus the estimate of 2.3%.

Happy National Pumpkin Day! Pumpkins are used for so many different things. They are used as decor, for carving, eating, and much more! What do you enjoy doing with your pumpkins?

In This Issue: Gratefulness | Cisco 2960-X Series 24 Port 370W PoE+ | Polarity for MPO Cables | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Gratefulness

Hello!

Ashley here – double time this week! Rebecca is out on vacation this week, so stay tuned to hear all about it next week.

In the meantime, I’ll share something that’s been on my heart lately.

A few weeks ago, I was challenged to write down one word each day that shares what I am grateful for until Thanksgiving. Somedays the word comes with no question but somedays it’s a challenge to think “What am I truly grateful for today?” I have so much to be grateful for in the season of life that I’m in, but yet I still struggle some days to put my finger on one thing that is truly meaningful.

Today I am grateful for true friendship. That I am able to spend this week with friends that I don’t get to see very often as we prepare to reunite with more of our friends on Friday to celebrate their marriage! Furthermore, that we are able to sit around the table and have authentic, joyful, and heartfelt conversations in person and not over FaceTime.

What are you grateful for today?

If you want to join me in the challenge, start today! Each day, write down one word that shares what you are thankful for. At the end of this challenge, I’ll challenge you to pray over each of those things. It’s such a joy each day that we get to be grateful for the things that He has given us.

Happy Wednesday!

Ashley

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Product Spotlights & Updates

When you need enterprise-class access without the high price, the Cisco 2960-X series of fixed-configuration, stackable Gigabit Ethernet switches is a great solution. This model, WS-C2960X-24PS-L, is simple to configure and monitor, and it’s made for easy troubleshooting. With 370W of PoE power, it offers 12 PoE+ ports up to 30W or 24 PoE ports up to 15.4W, with flexible power allocation. The WS-C2960X-24PS-L switch includes 24 Gigabit Ethernet ports (10/100/1000) and 4 SFP uplink interfaces.

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Learning Center Article – Polarity for MPO Cables

High-end fiber optics are important to modern networking, but they’re a lot more complicated than some of their older counterparts. If you need the power of fiber, you might be looking into MPO systems. They can hit some of the highest speeds on the market today, but utilizing them requires knowledge. One key piece of knowledge that can help with MPO systems is polarity. Without this knowledge, you won’t get a connection across any of your lines.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• For the first time in New Zealand’s history, a majority of lawmakers are women.
• The number of Americans who do not have a bank account fell to a record low last year, as the proliferation of online-only banks and an improving economy is bringing more Americans into the traditional financial system. A new report from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued Tuesday found that 4.5% of Americans were without a bank account in 2021. That’s the lowest level since the FDIC started tracking the data in 2009 and down from 5.4% of Americans in the 2019 survey data. Now reports show that a record number of Americans have a bank account.
• If you’re thinking of wiping down your kitchen with that bottle of Pine-Sol all-purpose cleaner under your sink — stop. It may contain bacteria that could cause serious illness in people with compromised immune systems. The Clorox Company has recalled its scented multi-surface cleaners and all-purpose cleaners. The recall doesn’t include its iconic original pine-scented Pine-Sol, which is its only product registered as a disinfectant.
• Apple will have to comply with a European Union law that mandates electronic devices have a common charging standard — known as USB-C.

Happy Tuesday & Happy National Greasy Food day! From fried chicken, pizza, nachos, and french fries to bacon and hashbrowns – it’s the perfect day to indulge.

In This Issue: Wedding Season | Cisco QSFP+ to 4SFP+ Breakout Cable | Throughput vs DRAM and Flash Specs | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Wedding Season

Happy Tuesday!

It’s wedding season! My husband and I have been doing a ton of traveling this month for several weddings! This week we decided to stay with friends between the two we have to close out the month, so are hanging out in Colombus, Ohio this week. Our friends have been taking us to all of their favorite places and tonight we’re going to a Blue Jackets game. It will be my first NHL game, so I’m looking forward to it!

I love weddings. They are so sweet and I love the raw emotions that the day brings. I think my favorite part about weddings is gifting. My husband and I have made it our thing to purchase some of our favorite 2-player games to gift to the couple. We have so much fun playing games together and hope to bring this joy to others.

Do you have any fun 2-player games you’d reccomend we try out?

Hope you have a great week!

Ashley

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Our fully Cisco-compatible breakout cable allows for versatility in your network by connecting a single 40G QSFP+ connector to (4) 10G SFP+ connectors over a passive copper twin axial cable. This direct attach breakout cable is hot-swappable, reliable, and an excellent option for achieving 40G connectivity without utilizing fiber optic cabling.

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Learning Center Article – Throughput vs DRAM and Flash Specs

When it comes to designing and managing networks, there is an endless challenge of trying to improve performance. Inevitably, that includes upgrading and replacing hardware. When you research hardware for upgrades and replacements, you’ll see a lot of different tech specs listed in the descriptions.

Two common terms that come up are throughput and bandwidth. You’ll see bandwidth more in advertising spaces, and you’ll see throughput more when you look up real-world tests of the hardware. Why is throughput so important? Why don’t you see more about flash specs?

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Five people have been stranded about 21 stories underground at Grand Canyon Caverns since the attraction’s elevator malfunctioned Sunday evening.
• Rishi Sunak took office as British prime minister Tuesday, acknowledging the mistakes of his Conservative Party predecessors and warning of difficult decisions ahead for a country mired in political and economic trouble.
• WhatsApp, the messaging platform, was starting to come back online and the company said the issue has been fixed after users across the world reported problems earlier on Tuesday. At about 07.50 GMT, the outage reporting site Downdetector had shown more than 68,000 users in the UK had reported problems with the app. Issues were also reported by 19,000 users in Singapore and 15,000 in South Africa.
• A Russian court on Tuesday denied WNBA star Brittney Griner’s appeal and upheld her nine-year prison sentence on drug charges.