CablesAndKits Blog

Happy Tuesday & Happy National Backyard Day! For many, your backyard is our home away from home. There are so many ways backyards are transformed to create a unique space for your family. What do you love about your backyard?

In This Issue: Sweet Glimpses of Spring | Cisco Hard Drives | What is Traffic Shaping? | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Sweet Glimpses of Spring

Good morning and happy first day of SPRING! Ironically, it’s super cold here this morning but we’ve been getting glimpses of spring in recent weeks and I’m so here for it (minus the seasonal allergies 😉).

I had a whirlwind of a weekend that I’m still trying to recover from. I spent Friday evening in Seneca, SC so that I could run in their “Race for the Green” half marathon on Saturday morning. I signed up for this race back in January knowing I didn’t really have time to do a full training cycle, but figured I’d do a shortened one and hope for the best! Saturday morning turned out to be a beautiful day with lots of sunshine which made it feel hot out there running! Getting through the race was a mental battle for me as I started questioning my will to complete the race around mile 6! Fortunately, I did complete the race and was VERY happy to see the finish line!

As if that wasn’t enough abuse for my poor legs, I headed out for a 9-mile group hike on Sunday. We hiked the Bartram Trail to Pinnacle Knob in Clayton, GA. We’ve done this one in the past, but it was years ago and I forgot what a challenge it is! We passed by Becky Branch Falls shortly after starting the hike, and then about 2 miles in we passed by Martin Creek Falls. After that, it was pretty much all uphill to the summit of Pinnacle Knob! I think we gained nearly 2,000 feet of elevation throughout the hike but, as always, the views were worth it!!

Needless to say, my legs are incredibly tired so I’ll probably be taking it easy the rest of the week! How are you spending your first week of Spring?!

Rebecca

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Product Spotlights & Updates

CablesAndkits.com is proud to offer the best of both worlds, Cisco, HP, and Dell hard drives. These hard drives are HP and Dell originals. The SAS hard drives operate in a state-of-the-art performance for hosting high transaction applications. The SAS hard drives are available in 2.5-inch small form factor (SFF) and come in a wide selection of storage capacities. Each hard drive is wiped of previous information and is fully tested.

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Learning Center Article – What is Traffic Shaping?

When you’ve worked in networking for a while, you’ll come to realize an unspoken truth. There’s never enough bandwidth to go around. A lot of professional network design is a matter of figuring out how to split your resources to minimize problems.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• MrBeast announced a new reality competition show in collaboration with Amazon MGM Studios. The new series, “Beast Games,” is billed as “the biggest reality competition series ever” and will feature 1,000 contestants competing for a $5 million cash prize.
• Johnson & Johnson MedTech and Nvidia are developing new artificial intelligence applications for surgery.
• Audi has revealed its new all-electric Q6 e-tron SUV, the first production vehicle on its next-generation EV architecture.
• Artificial intelligence is moving into the housing space, specifically architecture. ICON, which developed one of the first fully 3D-printed housing developments in the U.S., is taking automation another step further. It recently unveiled what it calls Vitruvius, an AI program that helps consumers design custom homes online and get the plans, making the process cheaper and faster.

Happy Friday & Happy Weekend! Do you have any exciting weekend plans? We’d love to hear about them!

In This Issue: Conference Prep & Last-Minute Checks! | DB9 Female to Female Null Modem Cable | Power Injectors Vs Power Supplies for IP Phones | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Conference Prep & Last-Minute Checks!

Happy Friday, folks! I am preparing to attend a conference, which is both exciting and stressful. Preparing to be disconnected for a week always takes time, and that’s where the stress comes in. Have I equipped the team to handle everything? Are there any issues with a project that I still need to handle? Do we have any scheduling conflicts? You get the idea. While it can be a bit stressful to be out a week, the learning opportunity provided by the conference is always worth it.

I am excited about the actual conference! It’s an opportunity to see the latest trends in our space, make new connections, and meet prospective partners. It is also beneficial to be outside the proverbial four walls of the office to think about things more objectively. I can’t sleep on planes, so I use that time to think about the business. We call it working ON the business here at CK (as opposed to working IN the business most days).

What is your favorite part of attending conferences?

Have a great weekend!

Chris

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Product Spotlights & Updates

These fully molded D-Sub cables offer solid performance and combine a foil shield construction and PVC jacket for flexibility and reliability.

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Learning Center Article – Power Injectors Vs Power Supplies for IP Phones

In many business settings, you still need landline phones, but that doesn’t mean you have to use traditional phone lines to fill that role. Many businesses use IP phones, as they are often more affordable and more capable.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• The Food and Drug Administration approved Rezdiffra as the first-ever treatment for a common and potentially deadly liver disease that affects millions worldwide.
• SpaceX launched the third test flight of its Starship rocket on Thursday. Starship was lost during its descent above the Indian Ocean, the company confirmed.
• Amazon is hosting a “Big Spring Sale” that will take place from March 20 to March 25. It marks the first time Amazon has held the event, which is open to all shoppers, not just Prime members.
• McDonald’s suffered a significant system failure that left customers in some parts of the world unable to order food.

Happy Thursday & Happy Pi Day! Today recognizes the mathematical constant π and is celebrated by pi enthusiasts and pie lovers alike!

In This Issue: Lessons Learned: Creating Order from Chaos | 4 Post Rack Mount Adjustable Rails | What Is a Network Fabric? | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Lessons Learned: Creating Order from Chaos

Do you ever feel like you can’t seem to get anything done? Same. But why? Could it be a lack of priority or focus? We believe so.

There are only so many hours in a day. There is only so much we can get done. Do we want quantity or quality? I believe we sometimes think we can have both, but we can’t. Loading more and more and more onto the to-do list only causes what is already on it to suffer.

Our whole team has lots of ideas. All the time. Add the visionary entrepreneur to the mix and we have LOADS of ideas. I sometimes say “My ideas have ideas”. We drown in ideas.

It is easy to spend a lot of time jumping from one idea to another, never finishing anything, and finishing the day or week exhausted and frustrated. It is much harder to operate from a place of discipline and start with the IMPORTANT things and then add in the extra stuff with the time we have remaining, however, that is the most effective way to do it.

There is a video clip (as well as many articles written) using rocks, pebbles, sand, and/or water as a visual illustration of how we MUST prioritize our time. I encourage you to watch this 4-minute video. “Priority determines Capacity”. The order in which we do things really matters.

As a business, we have to be very careful to manage time and priorities well or we will have dozens of people going in many different directions. The ineffectiveness can really compound!

The first thing we have to do is understand what “run level” activities we have that must get done day after day without fail. Those are the big rocks in this illustration. We cannot work on new projects (we call them bullets) at the expense of the run level stuff, else we don’t serve customers well and the business will fall apart. We then must create visibility around those things to make sure we are getting them done consistently well, without fail.

Secondly, we have to make sure that we work on new projects (bullets) from start to finish, and see them all the way through. It is easy to get distracted with the shiny new ideas and try to take on too much but taking on more things only slows down the completion of the thing you are already working on. It is more effective to finish one thing before going to another, when possible.

If it was important enough for us to start it should be important enough for us to finish.

Third, to get MORE done, we must either get more efficient with our time or add additional capacity. I see three ways we can do this:

• Reduce the amount of time it takes to do repetitive tasks. We can do this by finding more efficient ways to do them, finding tools that make doing them faster, reducing the frequency of the task (moving some things from daily to 2x per week for instance), etc.
• Transfer those repetitive tasks to the run-level people. We can transfer these tasks to people we already have, or bring on new run-level people to take them over. Don’t forget the need for visibility and two levels of accountability to ensure these tasks are made sustainable.
• Add additional “build” level people to take on more projects. If getting more efficient or transferring routine tasks to the run level is not enough to keep up with the new ideas (that are worth doing), we may need to add additional staff to take on projects.

Fourth, we have to list and prioritize new ideas. We created an Airtable where we can capture our “bullet ideas” so we do not forget about them. For a while we “just saw what needed to be done and just did it” but when the seeing outpaced the ability to do so, our choice was to juggle projects, forget the ideas, or capture them.

One interesting thing happened when we started to capture them. We realized after giving them a little while on the list that not every idea is a good idea.

I hope this is helpful. It sure has been for us.

Craig

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Product Spotlights & Updates

No more looking for those hard-to-find rails or rack ears to mount your server, UPS, switch, firewall, or other devices. These fully adjustable, universal rails offer the simplicity and versatility to get the devices you need mounted in the rack, quickly and safely. Made from 14 gauge powder-coated steel, this system can be deployed in nearly any four-post environment.

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Learning Center Article – What Is a Network Fabric?

Modern networking is complicated. It’s challenging enough that you have Wi-Fi routers that can handle multiple hundreds of devices, the Internet of Things putting even more devices into a group, and the sheer magnitude of data centers and high-speed networking.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Starship’s third-ever test flight is officially on for today!
• Wendy’s is making nostalgia a flavor with their latest Frosty. The fast food chain is introducing their Orange Dreamsicle Frosty inspired by the classic childhood popsicle.
• Home Depot is building four new distribution centers to cater to home professionals. The pro customers make up about half of Home Depot’s business and are critical to its growth strategy.
• Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he is putting together an investor group to try to buy TikTok. Mnuchin’s statements come shortly after the House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill that would force ByteDance to divest TikTok or the social media site would face a ban in the U.S.

Happy Wednesday! We’re at the halfway mark of the week and the weekend has never looked sweeter. Adjusting to this time change has been a tough one for our team, but we’re grateful to be able to soak up for sunshine!

In This Issue: Working from Home 🏠 | Cisco 1000BASE-T SFP Module | How to Calculate PoE Budgets | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Working from Home 🏠

Happy Wednesday, happy time change week, and happy consume more coffee than you’ve ever consumed before to survive the week, week. Haha. Needless to say, I love this time change but I’m not a fan of the adjustments. Especially with a little one. But, cheers to more daylight!

This past weekend I got to see a colleague, now a good friend, that I worked with previously at a job where I was fully remote. I’m grateful for the opportunities that I’ve had to be able to work from home but I’m even more grateful for some of the incredible friendships I have gained in doing so.

Looking back, it’s cool to see how the relationships I have now formed. We only saw each other once a quarter (sometimes less) but were still able to find ways to connect and continue to develop sweet friendships outside of the workplace and even now in different jobs.

Working remotely has its ups and downs. I think for me, it has more ups than anything but there are some days where I do long for office conversations (think water cooler chat) or just to work in a different space. But I’m grateful for local coffee shops, or even the ability to move my computer to my kitchen counter!

Do you work remotely? What do you love about it? What challenges do you face with it?

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Ashley

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Cisco GLC-T transceiver module is a 1000BASE-T SFP for Copper Networks. It is designed for Gigabit Ethernet connectivity over Category 5e (Cat5e) unshielded twisted pair copper cabling up to 100m link length via a RJ-45 connector. It operates at a data transfer rate of up to 1000 megabits per second (Mbps).

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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.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Eli Lilly said Amazon Pharmacy will help deliver certain prescription drugs, directly to patients’ homes through the drugmaker’s new direct-to-consumer website.
• Frontier has reported its new UpFront Plus option will include an open middle seat in the first two rows of the plane.
• Google announced it will begin restricting the types of election-related queries that users can ask its Gemini chatbot.
• NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 completed the agency’s seventh commercial crew rotation mission to the International Space Station on Tuesday after splashing down safely in a Dragon spacecraft off the coast of Pensacola, Florida. The international crew of four spent 199 days in orbit.

Happy Tuesday & Happy National Girl Scout Day! Today honors the history and legacy of Girl Scouting in America each year. Also, girl scout cookies anyone?!

In This Issue: Soaking up the Daylight | LINIER Economy 2U Rack Shelf | Zone-based Firewalls Overview | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Soaking up the Daylight

Good Morning & Happy Tuesday!

Hope everyone survived the time change and is starting to get some energy back!

We ended up canceling our weekend trip to Columbus due to the weather looking so crummy, but decided to wake up early on Sunday to head north and do a little hiking! As if losing an hour of sleep wasn’t enough, I had to set a 5:30AM alarm! It was totally worth it though! We hiked Mount Yonah which is an iconic hike here in Georgia. It’s just over 4 miles total and gets pretty steep once you’re about halfway up the mountain so it’s definitely a workout! The views were absolutely stunning but it was incredibly cold and windy at the top! There was ice on the ground and I thought I was getting frostbite in my fingers by the time we headed back down! 😉

After that, we checked out a hike to Tabor Falls. It was a very bizarre experience as the hike started down a logging road with tons of logging debris. It dumps you out into a partially cut-down forest with no discernable trail so we were thankful to have downloaded the trail map prior to heading in so that we could find our way! The descent to the falls was steep and pretty sketchy but there were ropes to hold onto which was nice. The falls themselves were absolutely gorgeous and definitely made my personal “Top 10” list for waterfalls in GA! I was skeptical of how the hike was going to turn out as we hiked in, but it was totally worth it!

The longer days and the weather slowly getting warmer has me inspired to spend as much time outside as possible! What about you!?

Rebecca

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The LINIER Economy Rack Mount Shelves are a great way to store your non-rack mountable components. Our shelves are suitable for monitors, modems, DSL routers, backup units, and virtually anything you can think of.

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Learning Center Article – Zone-based Firewalls Overview

If you have any important information or tools attached to devices in your network, then you need good network security. An essential tool for security is the firewall. Of course, firewalls have seen a lot of development over the years, so if you want modern solutions, then you need to know about modern firewalls.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Kohl’s has reported it will add Babies R Us shops to approximately 200 of its stores across the country in the fall.
• The Food and Drug Administration approved Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster weight loss drug Wegovy for use in slashing the risk of serious cardiovascular complications in people with obesity and heart disease.
• Airbnb is banning the use of all indoor security cameras in properties listed on its platform.
• Starbucks launched a new lineup of drinks focused on lavender. Have you tried them?! 

Happy Monday & Happy National Promposal Day! Today prompts the ultimate question each year, “Will you go to prom with me?” Do you have a promposal story? We’d love to hear about it!

In This Issue: Adjusting to the Time Change | Cisco 3750X Series 48 Port PoE+ Deployment Kit | ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) Explained | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Adjusting to the Time Change

Happy Monday!

If you’re like me, then today is going to be a tough one. Yes, I’m talking about the time change, when we start saving daylight, but what are we saving it from and how much daylight have we saved so far? Age-old questions I ask myself every year on this same day.

Though I do appreciate having more sunlight in the late afternoon, it’s just the adjustment period that I’ll never get used to. I’ve tried preparing in the past by waking up just a little earlier as the time change gets nearer, but it doesn’t seem to be very effective for me. I think going outside helps and spending some time walking around in the cool of the morning, but for now, I’ll probably down a couple of coffees throughout the day and trunch through the fog.

What do you all do to adjust? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I hope you have a great day and a great week!

Cris

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Our Cisco switch bundles are designed with the end user in mind. From startups to large businesses, our deployment kits will suit the needs of your ever-growing and adapting business. Cisco 3750 X switches help maximize productivity by giving IT managers the tools needed to support enterprise applications and advanced traffic management.

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Learning Center Article – ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) Explained

You have two devices on the same network. You want to share packets directly from one to the other without involving the rest of the internet. How do you do this? There are a few ways, but one of the easiest is ARP.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Reddit aims to raise up to $748 million as part of its upcoming IPO.
• Krispy Kreme has announced that customers can get the new St. Patrick’s Day-themed doughnuts beginning March 11 and for a limited time at participating shops across the U.S.
• Ketchup maker Heinz has spent nine years, 185,000 product development hours, 45 iterations, and $1.2 million creating a new version of its plastic bottle cap that can be treated at recycling plants — and that new bottle is now available to customers. Read more here.
• Disney enthusiasts might soon have the chance to traverse the snowy expanse of Arendelle from “Frozen,” or wander through the animal-populated streets of “Zootopia” within Disney’s theme parks in California. Read more on the expansion here.