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Slim Down: The Patch Cable Diet

It’s easy for the once-cavernous space of a data center to turn cramped and congested. The space isn’t growing, but the equipment and need for connectivity is. The solution? Slim Cat6 patch cables to help reduce space, improve airflow, and provide easier management in a bustling data center.

Reduce Space

Cat6 Slim Ethernet patch cables have done their share of diet and exercise, going from 24AWG on standard Cat6 cables down to 28AWG. In terms of overall diameter, that is a physical slim down from 5.3mm OD to 3.5mm OD.

Easier to Manage

Compared to standard Cat

How To Manage the Tangle

A patch panel is an arrangement of ports on one panel, which can be mounted to a rack or wall. Patch panels allow you to bundle and connect multiple ports for incoming and outgoing lines. They’re great cable management and network solution to centralize telecommunications and data equipment in communications closets, central offices, and data centers.

What is the purpose of a patch panel?
A patch panel is a mounting assembly w

Choosing the Right WiFi Antenna

To identify the right antenna for your WiFi application it is important to note the differences in omnidirectional and directional antennas. Either the signal is radiating out in every direction, which is called omnidirectional, or there is a reflective surface to focus the signal in a specific direction, which is called directional.

Depending on your primary application there are ceiling, panel, Log Periodic/Yagi, fixed omni, and rubber

What You Need to Consider When Purchasing Antennas

When buying an antenna there several factors that go into finding the right solution for your network. Without proper consideration, you will not achieve the desired connectivity, which can result in a loss of time and money.

The basic function of an antenna is to take a signal traveling through a cable and convert it to a signal that can travel through the air. The most common applications for antennas are Wi-Fi/WLAN networks, the “Internet of Things” (IoT), and in public safety/first responder systems.

Since there are many different types of antennas, these are a few of the major items to consider before you buy an antenna:

• What is the application?
• What frequency do

5 Things to Consider When Purchasing Power Cords

When purchasing power cables, knowing what qualities to look out for will help you save time, money, and stress.

1. Plug & Form Factor

Identifying which power cords you need can be confusing. There are dozens of different NEMA & IEC jacks and plugs. The problem is even more compounded when you add-in international plugs. We have created this helpful chart to help you identify which power cord you need.

Another consideration beyond fit is the orientation of the plug. Space-saving

Ethernet Jacket Types 101

Ethernet cable jackets are made from various materials and carry different ratings assigned by the NEC. Let’s run through some commonly asked questions about these materials and NEC ratings to help answer some common questions about which material and jacket rating is used for most installations:

What is a PVC jacket?

Polyvinyl Chloride is the backbone material in most ethernet cable jackets. It is a high strength and flexible material, which makes it a go-to jacket for most ethernet cabling. PVC is the most common material found in the below jacket ratings. 

What is a PE jacket?
Polyethylene is most common with outdoor rated jackets. They are good at moisture and overall w

Data Line Surge Protection

You don’t need a string of statistics to understand lightning is powerful, unpredictable, and strikes often. Take my word for it. I’ve read the “fun” facts. There is an astounding number of opportunities for mother nature to completely fry your business and home networks from both direct and indirect lightning strikes. But you can’t blame lightning for damage to modems, motherboards, serial ports, and other LAN equipment. You can’t shake a fist at mother nature for network downtime leading to a loss of business, expensive repairs/replacements, and corrupted data. What you can, and should, do is think

1 Hour of Data and Bandwidth Usage

As offices and schools head home, competition for bandwidth is intensifying.  A usually smooth operating home network can be ground to a halt under new data demands. Running multiple video conference calls, streaming binge-worthy TV,  listening to music, and streaming a lecture can cause all parties to suffer extra loading times or lower quality.

To help you understand the most demanding activities, here is a list of the data usage rates for some of the most popular work from home activities.

Work Activities

Email <1 MB an hour.

Email is one of the lightest weight activities you can do.  While usage varies

Dealing with Impedance Mismatching

When selecting coax cable or certain types of coaxial connectors and adapters there are a variety of factors to consider such as jacket type, shielding, and loss.  Today we want to focus on impedance, specifically what to do if you encounter differing impedances.

In coax, there are two categories of impedance 50 Ohm and 75 Ohm.   Ohm is the measurement of electrical resistance.  The physical properties of the cable determine if it's impedance.  The hallmarks of 50 Ohm coax are high power handling and low attenuation and are used in RF applications.  75 Ohm coax is designed for low power, signal transmission efficiency, which is typically used in audio/video applications.

MPO Fiber Optics

As the need for bandwidth speed outpaces the capabilities for physical expansion, networks are evolving by offering higher density higher throughput solutions. This allows for increased data rate performance without having to invest in new physical locations. MPO cables provide high-density termination capabilities and are an ideal choice for delivering the fastest link and enabling high-speed interconnects.

Multi-fiber push-on connectors (MPO) are multi-fiber cables terminated in a single connector. They are typically available in 8, 12 or 24 fibers and are common for data center and LAN en- environments. They ease cable management and allow faster deployment in duplex 10 Gig fiber applications.