CablesAndKits Blog

Happy Thursday! We’re one day closer to the weekend, who’s ready?! 🤩 Do you have any exciting weekend plans?

In This Issue: Living in the Uncomfortable | Cisco Meraki MX64 Security Appliance | How to Choose the Right Transceiver for Your Network | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Living in the Uncomfortable

I am normally a creature of habit. I like having a plan. I like knowing what’s going to happen. I like my comfort zone. Every so often, I will break out and do something out of the norm of that mindset, but generally, I like being comfortable, as most of us probably do. Routine is not a bad thing at all.

Here lately I have come to call life, “living in the uncomfortable.” Lots of changes, lots of new things, lots of things that have gotten me out of my routine and out of being comfortable. One of the biggest things for me has been the opportunity and the pull that I have had to step out and join with many others to “pioneer” a new campus for my church. The church has done this multiple times, but I have never done it…I have been very comfortable attending and serving at my current church campus for almost 10 years. Even before they announced the new campus, I felt like a change was about to happen. I just didn’t know what it was. That Sunday they made the announcement that they were going to be starting the new campus in the county I just moved to, not far from my house. I knew immediately that was the change that was happening. We had the first kick-off for those who are going to the new campus and will be leading and serving there last week. I would say about 98% of the people there were from another current campus. Another uncomfortable moment, not knowing hardly anyone there. I love the people I serve and attend church with, many of them I have known and served with for 10+ years. This whole process has been a stretching moment for me.

That is just one example of the many “uncomfortable” moments and growing opportunities for me lately. While it has been difficult at times, I am learning to embrace it. It has kind of become freeing and exciting for me to let go of the control and my comfort zone and see what’s next.

Have a great Thursday!

Jason

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Cisco Meraki MX family of devices are multifunctional security & SD-WAN etnerprise appliances that feature a wide range of capabilities to address a wide variety of use cases – from an all-in-one device. . Organizations of all sizes and across all industries rely on the MX to deliver secure connectivity to hub locations or multi-cloud environments, as well as application quality of experience (QoE), through advanced analytics with machine learning.

The Meraki MX64-HW security device is an excellent solution for small branch locations with support for up to 50 users, 250 Mbps of stateful firewall throughput, and 200 Mbps of advanced security throughput.

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Learning Center Article – How to Choose the Right Transceiver for Your Network

When you’re designing or expanding a fiber optics network, there are many things to consider. The networks grow in complication very quickly, and any miscalculation can prove expensive, if not disastrous.

So, if you’re looking for the right transceivers for your network, you have to consider all of the angles. Thankfully, that’s a lot easier if you have a quick checklist that can keep you honest. Really, you can break all of this down into five categories to remember as you browse transceivers.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Covid vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna were recommended for kids as young as 6 months by FDA Advisers. It’s the last major group waiting for the shots.
• Cosmetics giant Revlon filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it grappled with a cumbersome debt load and a snarled supply chain. The company said it expects to receive $575 million in debtor-in-possession financing from its existing lender base
• Amazon’s big annual sale, Prime Day, will return on July 12 and 13. Who’s excited?!
• American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said that the company will revise its pay proposals for its 14,000 pilots, acknowledging pay standards have increased since the company made its most recent offer before the pandemic.

Happy Nature Photography and Smile Power Day! Need a mid-week pick-me-up? Seems like the perfect day to take a walk outside, mentally or physically take some photos of nature, and smile at everyone you see. Happy Wednesday!

In This Issue: Conquering Your To-Do List | Cisco 1000BASE-T SFP Module | Best Practices for Data Center Security in 2022 | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Conquering Your To-Do List

Good morning all!

Hope you are having a great week. I’ve been spending quite a bit of time in “catch-up” mode from doing quite a bit of traveling last week. It’s always so fun and fruitful to travel and further connect with people in person but is hard to put everything else on pause. Do you struggle with doing this?

Overtime, it seems like it’s become more of a struggle to be out and come back and not feel overwhelmed by your incredibly long to-do list. Specifically for me, working from home, I find myself working incredibly late hours trying to catch up and not giving myself a break to fuel up for the next day ahead. Have you found yourself in the same situation? What best practices do you put in place each day to conquer these feelings?

I hope you have a great week!

Ashley

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Achieve Gigabit Ethernet connectivity over Cat5e copper wire using the Cisco GLC-T transceiver module. These hot-swappable 1000BASE-T SFP gigabit interface converters (GBIC) plug directly into a Gigabit Ethernet port or slot, linking the port with the network and delivering high-performance Ethernet networking.

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Learning Center Article – Best Practices for Data Center Security in 2022

If you looked at data center security best practices only a few years ago, the leading trends and advice would be dramatically different from the leading areas of focus today. Everyone in IT knows that things change fast, but it feels like change has accelerated.

Here are four up-to-date best practices that can help you think about how things have changed and what you can do to keep up.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• So long Internet Explorer. The browser is officially retiring as Microsoft will no longer support it.
• Total mortgage application volume was 52.7% lower last week than the same week one year ago.
• The United Arab Emirates’ Media Regulatory Office announced it would ban Disney Pixar’s “Lightyear” based on what it said was a “violation of the country’s media content standards.” The ban comes despite an announcement last year that the country would no longer censor films.
• The European Space Agency’s Gaia observatory has just unleashed a “treasure trove” of data on nearly 2 billion stars in the Milky Way, revealing how fast they move toward or away from us, as well as unusual ‘starquakes’ that change the shapes of stars. Check it out here!

Today is National “Monkey Around Day”. Its is a day to just goof off and do whatever comes to mind. Maybe you have a wild idea that you’ve always wanted to try but were afraid to. Today’s the perfect opportunity to be brave and safely have some fun.

In This Issue: Productivity | MTP Elite Fiber Cables | The Difference Between Cat5e, Cat6, and Cat6a | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Productivity

Good Morning and Happy Tuesday! Hope everyone is staying cool as the temperatures are heating up this week (at least here in Georgia)! Over the weekend I was listening to a podcast and one of the topics they were discussing was productivity. It’s funny to me how this is one topic that has been discussed countless times, yet we never seem to be satisfied so it will continue to be a hot topic forever. With so many of us feeling like we’ve got more things on our to-do list than time to get it all done, we’re always looking for new productivity “hacks” to help us better manage our time and get more done. Admittedly, a lot of the advice can sound like “noise” at this point, but at the risk of contributing to the noise, I wanted to share an interesting idea that was discussed on the podcast. They were making the point that what we can accomplish in a 24 hour day now is drastically different than what we could accomplish in a 24 hour day 20-30 years ago. With technological advances such as e-mail, cell phones, and the internet, we can communicate in a moments notice and conduct business at lightning fast paces. The guest on this particular podcast said “it’s almost like we can accomplish 3 days worth of work in a single 24 hour cycle”. As such, he breaks his 24 hour days up into what he calls “mini days”. It’s simply a mental game, but for example, he will consider 6:00AM – 12:00PM to be a “mini day”. He’ll have goals and things to accomplish that day and he stays laser focused on them. Then he’ll start his next “mini day” with different goals. Essentially, he feels like he is living 3 days in the same time span that the rest of us are living 1 day which, in his words, allows him to “run circles around everyone else”. The reality is that we all have the same 24 hours to work with, but I can see how mentally breaking it up the way he has done and essentially working in sprints could help with productivity. I thought it was an interesting concept so figured I’d share in case anyone was interested in testing it out! Have a great week!

Rebecca

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Our MTP Elite® line of fiber cables feature high performance US Conec MTP Elite® connectors for the ultimate in functionality and reliability. This highly versatile line of cables are made with Corning ClearCurve® glass and removable housings which allow users to change the gender of the cable in the field. Additionally, they feature a floating ferrule design which helps to improve mechanical performance by allowing two mated ferrules to maintain physical contact even while under an applied load.

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Learning Center Article – The Difference Between Cat5e, Cat6, and Cat6a

New technology, advances in automation, and overflowing opportunities are unlocked every day. For businesses, research teams, and tech projects around the world, there is a constant balance between getting the right amount of power versus spending an exact tech budget wisely. Cabling and other infrastructure choices are in a precarious position, with many low IT budgets or simply cheap options tempting the cost-conscious planner. At the same time, the newest and faster technology is always a temptation, but can you be sure that your project will use the investment to the highest potential before it fails or becomes obsolete?

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Travelers and “Scooby Doo” fans eager to relive the magic of the movie adaptation can book a stay in the Mystery Machine thanks to Airbnb, which has turned the iconic mini bus into a mini home. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of Scooby-Doo: The Movie, Matthew Lillard, who played Shaggy in the movie is now playing Airbnb host of The Mystery Machine, which has never before been available to the public overnight.
• Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, signed a bill into law yesterday making it a whole lot easier for the state’s teachers to carry guns at school. The law cuts the amount of required training from 700 hours to just 24 hours. DeWine said legislators have been working on the bill since last year, but the recent school shooting in Uvalde, TX, “increased the urgency to enact it.”
• Amazon is launching drone delivery…finally. Nine years after Jeff Bezos first floated the concept on 60 Minutes, Amazon announced that its first drone delivery service would go live in the town of Lockeford, CA, later this year. The company’s once-hyped drone program has been agonizingly slow to lift off, beset by safety concerns, technical snags, and high employee turnover within the unit. And it’s not a done deal yet—the FAA still has to approve the service before the flying robots start dropping off packages in backyards.
• Today on #FlagDay we recognize the symbol of freedom, hope, and opportunity that the American flag represents—and honor those who have sacrificed and protected those values for the past 240 years.

Happy Monday! We are in full swing gardening season and today is National Weed Your Garden Day. Not the most fun day, but one that is very necessary!

In This Issue: Unexpected Lessons | Cisco 2960-X | PVC vs. LSZH vs. OFNP vs. ONFR Cable Jackets | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Camping in the forest!

Hello!

I am off in the middle of a national forest camping! So far the lesson has been it’s always going to be colder than you think! We were supposed at how cold it got at night in the north Georgia mountains, but we are thankful that it isn’t deathly hot! The bugs aren’t too bad either. Will post a better update next week when we are back in civilization!

Hope you have a great week!

Cris

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Cisco has always done a fantastic job catering to small and medium businesses. The Cisco 2960-X series is another generation of the already popular 2960 series that will enable the typical small to medium business to function at an enterprise level without the enterprise budget. The 2960-X series switches offer a fixed configuration of Ethernet switches that are not only Gigabit but also stackable. The 2960-X was specifically designed for easy deployment and operational efficiency. These switches are also energy cautious and have a large range of IOS software features.

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Learning Center Article – PVC vs LSZH vs OFNP vs OFNR Cable Jackets

When comparing fiber optics cables, there are a lot of different components and considerations. One important component is the outer jacket of the cable. Outer jackets can be made from a number of materials, and generally speaking, the jacket materials can work with any fiber cable type. That means that choosing the right cable jacket is often independent of choosing the fiber setup.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• June’s full moon, the strawberry moon, will illuminate the sky this week. The moon will appear full from Sunday moonrise to Wednesday moonset, according to NASA. It will reach its peak at 7:52 a.m. ET Tuesday but will not be fully visible in North America until the moonrise.
• Walmart has launched style-forward brands, added national brands and debuted a new store design to try to sell more discretionary merchandise.
• Bitcoin tumbled below $24,000 on Monday, hitting its lowest level since December 2020.
• Gasoline prices hit a national average of $5 per gallon on Saturday and are set to move higher. The jump in gasoline prices means households are spending about $160 more per month on fuel than they were a year ago.

Happy Friday and Happy Movie Night! Grab some popcorn, your favorite candy and queue up your favorite movie!

In This Issue: Unexpected Lessons | Display Port to HDMI Converter | Difference in DVI Connectors | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Unexpected Lessons

Happy Friday, folks! I find it interesting that sometimes we don’t know what we have until it’s gone for a little while. I’ll use a simple story to share what I mean.

I was in the middle of a video meeting yesterday afternoon when the power started flickering. It flickered on/off for about 30 seconds before it finally went out. My video meeting ended abruptly! It was odd as there wasn’t a storm passing through that would cause an outage. We went about 90 minutes without power which isn’t really that long.

In that time, there weren’t any alerts from my Ring cameras, no music playing across my Amazon Echo’s, no dings from Microsoft Teams alerts, and numerous other alerts from all the tools and gadgets we have. It was completely quiet at that time. It gave me time to focus on some tasks that I could complete without technology.

So while my first response to the loss of power was frustration, I was able to quickly pivot and use the time to focus on other things.

What lessons have you learned when something changed unexpectedly?

Have a great weekend!

Chris

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Product Spotlights & Updates

This display port to HDMI converter will take a dual-mode Display Port signal and convert that signal to standard HDMI v1.3. This converter handles all the switching necessary to accept AC coupled signals and is handled automatically. The lead on this adapter is 6″ making it ideal for compact, tight instillations.

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Learning Center Article – Difference in DVI Connectors

So, you are wondering what IS the difference between all the DVI connectors? There are 5 different DVI connectors. The DVI connector usually contains pins to pass the DVI-native digital video signals. In the case of dual-link systems, additional pins are provided for the second set of data signals.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• In what appears to be a miracle and ‘first time in history’, a small clinical trial has found that every single rectal cancer patient who received an experimental treatment found that their cancer had vanished.
• Adam Sandler has achieved a career record with his brand new Netflix movie. The actor, who has a $350m deal with the streaming service, appears in Hustle, a sports drama in which he plays a basketball scout. Sandler’s previous films for Netflix, including The Ridiculous 6, Sandy Wexler and Murder Mystery, were all torn apart by critics. Hustle, however, has seen Sandler receive some of the best reviews of his career to date. On Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregate site, the film has a critics score of 89 per cent, putting it in third place behind The Meyerowitz Stories and Uncut Gems.
• Dinosaurs are destined to steal the box office crown from Tom Cruise this weekend, but it’s not clear by how much. Universal’s “Jurassic World: Dominion” enters domestic theaters this Friday, and it will snag the majority of pricier premium format screens from Paramount and Skydance’s “Top Gun: Maverick.” Box office analysts forecast a $125 million debut for “Jurassic World,” which should easily be the top-grossing film at the box office his week.
• NASA is launching a study of UFOs as part of a new push toward high-risk, high-impact science. The space agency announced Thursday that it’s setting up an independent team to see how much information is publicly available on the matter and how much more is needed to understand the unexplained sightings. The experts will also consider how best to use all this information in the future.

Happy Donald Duck Day! Any big Donald fans out there?! Did you know that in 2002 he was declared one of the greatest cartoon characters of all time? Also, his middle name is Fauntleroy!

In This Issue: A Restless Mind | Keystone Surface Mount Box | What is Switch Stacking & Why is it Important? | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – A Restless Mind

Happy Thursday!

Some mornings it is super easy to sit down and write for this email and then there are mornings like today where I feel like my mind is blank. I thought about writing about grilling out. I thought about writing about landscaping and yard work. I thought about writing about goals. None of it felt right this morning. Maybe it’s because my mind is all over the place. Someone asked me yesterday how things were going and my response was, “Have you seen the Spongebob Squarepants meme of him cleaning 6 different things at one time? Yeah, that’s the way I feel right now mentally.”

I feel like my mind is in overdrive and trying to focus on 6-10 different things at one time, which is completely impossible. I know this is just a season and there are good parts of it too, but I think I need a vacation. Haha! It might be time to find a beach to hang out on or head down to Savannah for a long weekend.

At least it is almost Friday and the weekend. I hope each of you have a great rest of the week!

Jason

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Give your network a makeover. These attractive boxes will perfectly blend into your home or office decor, and can hold a multitude of jacks. Unloaded 2-Position Keystone Surface Mount Box, the easiest way to install a network outlet, is perfect for office cubicles or installations where the cable is run along a baseboard. Protects and hides your network connection and mounts with 2-sided tape or screws.

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Learning Center Article -What is Switch Stacking & Why is it Important?

There are countless ways to design a network and meet the criteria it needs to follow. Not all of these methods will be as efficient or affordable as others. That’s why network administrators are constantly learning new concepts.

Switch stacking is commonly used in high-end networking, but many small and medium businesses are missing out on the technique. Taking a minute to learn more about it could reveal a better way to run your network that saves time and money while improving network functionality.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Life for Perseverance, the plucky rover that is currently roaming the Red Planet some 132 million miles away from Earth, is quite lonely. From the desolate, dusty landscape of Jezero Crater to the gusty Martian winds, life on Mars is not for the faint of heart — or at least, for those who are extroverts. Hence, despite being a robot on a scientific research mission, researchers on NASA’s Perseverance mission team were surprised recently to discover that Perseverance had accidentally adopted a pet rock.
• Astronomers everywhere have high hopes for NASA’s James Webb telescope. It’s supposed to give us an insight into the first stars and galaxies that ever formed and into the atmospheres of potentially habitable exoplanets. That is why NASA and its partners had engineered it to be able to withstand harsh situations, such as being bombarded by micrometeoroids flying at extremely high velocities. Between May 23rd and May 25th, a micrometeoroid that was larger than expected hit one of the telescope’s primary mirror segments.
• Microsoft is releasing an Xbox app for smart TVs, enabling consumers to stream Xbox video games even if they don’t own consoles.
• The Biden administration this week proposed new standards for its program to build a national network of 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations by 2030. Officials said the proposal will help establish the groundwork for states to build charging station projects that are accessible to all drivers regardless of the location, EV brand or charging company.