Today’s Topics: Lunar New Year | Get Connected with Access Point Deployment Packs | What are Shielded Ethernet Cables? | News to Start Your Day
Happy Thursday!
It’s National Inventor’s Day & National Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk Day! Maybe we can invent something to help us not spill our milk?! But actually…Here’s to a positive attitude even when things might not be going your way!
This Friday is Lunar New Year (or Chinese New Year), so I thought I would share a little about it from one of our team members, Amy. Amy works in our Managed Accounts team doing lots of work behind the scenes to make sure your orders go out on time. Her family is from Vietnam, and she shared some of their experiences with us:
“Lunar New Year, commonly known as Chinese New Year, this year will be on 2/12. It changes each year depending on the Lunar calendar. It’s usually at the end of January, early February. The Lunar calendar is the reason why some Koreans have two ages, an international age, and a lunar age! You can be born on Dec 31st but be two years old!
Lunar New Year is not celebrated in every Asian country. China, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Singapore, and more countries celebrate it in their own special way. My family is from Vietnam so I’ll share some of our traditions with you. On the day of Lunar New Year, we hand out red envelopes called, Li Xi, filled with lucky money! Now that I’m an adult, I’ve been tasked to hand them out and see less of them haha! We also take this time to set up to pray to our ancestors. We offer them fruit, meals, and water. If you stop by [any Asian supermarket] this weekend, you can commonly find fruit such as apples or oranges in fancy boxes up to 3 to 4 times for this reason. Here are some videos of some meals we have during Tet (Lunar New Year in Vietnamese)!
There are usually lantern festivals celebrated in China towns across the US to celebrate. Dragon dances are my favorite part of the festival. If you are ever in NY during Lunar New Year, I highly recommended stopping by in NYC’s Chinatown and watching the parade they throw. It’s loud, colorful, and filled with delicious food! I recommend stopping by your local Asian Market and buying some moon cakes or a platter of Asian candy to celebrate!”
If you aren’t familiar with Chinese New Year and its traditions, I hoped you learned something today. If you do celebrate, do you do anything differently? We’d love to hear about your experiences!
Christin
Product Spotlights and Updates:
Today’s Product Spotlight is brought to you by the Cisco AIR-CAP3702I-A-K9 Deployment Pack, which has everything you need for your office’s wireless setup. The kit includes the AIR-CAP3702I-A-K9 access point, which is a fantastic high-performance dual-band device designed for offices and similar RF environments. The radios on the AP support 802.11a through 802.11ac wireless network standards and are easy to manage. The deployment pack also comes with a standard ceiling mount as well as a recessed ceiling grid clip, a console cable, a power injector, and a power supply. It comes with everything, but the kitchen sink (as they say). Perhaps you already have all those accessories and just want the AP. You can purchase the AIR-CAP3702I-A-K9 device stand alone as well.
Keep in mind these are controller-based access points but don’t fret, we carry Wireless LAN Controllers as well! We find that the AIR-CT2504-5-K9 would fit the bill nicely. If you don’t have WiFi at your office, I’m sorry to say, but you are living in the dark ages. Get out of the dark ages and get your WiFI on.
What are Shielded Ethernet Cables? – CK Learning Center
What are Shielded Ethernet Cables?
Currently, the use of high bandwidth applications has been on the rise, and network systems have started venturing into factory environments which have called for the use of shielded cables. In this new installation sector, the cable is used in areas with high electromagnetic interference (EMI). Even with improved ability to reject noise and handle gigabit Ethernet, these cables will not function properly in areas where there is high EMI if not properly shielded. A shielded cable will help in these high EMI installations ensuring safe and efficient data transfer.
STP and S/STP
These are the two basic types of shielded ethernet cables. STP cables with an overall generic shield whereas S/STP cables have a shield for each pair and an overall outer shield. The Shield of STP cables can either be a foil or a braid, but for additional strength, some cables can comprise of a foil shield and an outer braid shield.
SSTP and FTP
Cables that have an overall foil are known as FTP, whereas those with a braid are known as STP. STP is the generic name given to all shielded cables. At times, there arises confusion where FTP cables are assumed to be unshielded or that they are significantly different in terms of performance. In practice, the STP and FTP cables can be used interchangeably, and there is no apparent difference in their performance.
S/STP
The second type of cable is one that has each of the individual pair shielded and then there is an overall outer shield. This type of cable is referred to as S/STP. The purpose of having an inner shield is to ensure that there is no internal cross-talk between the pairs. This will help in ensuring that the cables meet the specifications of the Alien Cross Talk parameter which is significantly difficult to achieve with CAT6a and CAT7 systems. However, Alien Cross Talk is not a requirement when it comes to CAT6, CAT5e, and CATS systems. Additionally, it does not significantly contribute to the overall resilience of the cable when it comes to resisting external RF noise such as the one made at the mains induced spikes. The physical construction comprises of a foil on both the inner and overall outer shield. Additionally, there can be a braid which will improve the cable’s strength and also simplify the connection to the metal shields which are around the connectors.
Proper Ground Connection
It is worth noting that all the shielded Ethernet cables should have a ground connection for their shields. In case your cable has an incorrect ground connection, the chances are there will be ground loop currents and also the associated interference to the Ethernet signal. In the worst-case scenario, where the grounding is poor, the shield can end up acting like antennas; broadcasting high-frequency signals from the cable to the outer environment. This will interfere with the delicate co-located electronic equipment and also allow external detection of the Ethernet data.
What is the Drain Wire in Shielded Cables?
Every shielded Ethernet cable should have a wire that stretches from the insulated wires to the shield. This is commonly known as the drain wire. Normally, the shield is connected to a specific pin in one end, which can even be the chassis. The connector shells are not connected anywhere and consequently, connecting the drain wire to pin 1 puts the entire cable at the potential of that pin. No current will be flowing, but the cable screening will be effective.
Bottom Line on Shielded Patch Cables
Ethernet cables should be shielded which helps increase the cable’s resilience and also makes it stronger. As such, when going for Ethernet cables, consider going for ones that are shielded to ensure safety and longevity.
This article is from the CK Learning Center
Today’s News to Start Your Day:
- As of this morning, in the US, there are 9,586,691 active COVID cases, 17,827,323 have recovered and there have been 483,200 deaths.
- Mr. Peanut is joining forces with Spam. Kraft Heinz is selling its nuts business to Spam maker Hormel for $3.35 billion. The business, which includes most Planters products and the Corn Nuts brand, contributed about $1.1 billion to Kroft Heinz’s 2020 sales. Kraft Heinz CEO Miguel Patricio said the sale enables the company to focus on other snack brands, like Lunchables and P3.
- As part of the massive redesign of Epcot that is currently underway, the Leave A Legacy blocks were removed. But because guests were promised their images would remain on display for 20 years, we knew they were being relocated to a new space outside of the park itself. Now that relocation has commenced, and it turns out Walt Disney World isn’t simply moving the same granite blocks to another location. Leave A Legacy has been completely redesigned. It’s now full of colors, and it looks gorgeous. Check it out.
- The effort to immunize more Americans against the coronavirus now includes major retail pharmacy chains. National drugstore chains CVS Health and Walgreens are among the more than 20 major retailers getting supplies of COVID-19 vaccines from the federal government this week. The federal program will be implemented in stages, based on available vaccine supplies, with shipments arriving as soon as Thursday, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Drivers passing through downtown Lawrenceville, Georgia may have noticed something a little different as this week began: a former city vehicle fueling station located on a triangle-shaped property by City Hall has started to disappear. The teardown is laying the groundwork for a gateway plaza and green space that will be built on the property this spring and through the remainder of the year to welcome visitors traveling north on Graying Highway into the downtown Lawrenceville area.
- When 31-year-old Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd takes her dating app company public Thursday, she’ll be noted not only for her youth but also as one of the few female founders to lead a firm to an IPO. Bumble, whose board is 73% women, priced its offering Wednesday evening at $43 per share, raising $2.2 billion and valuing Bumble at around $8 billion. The stock market response will act as a litmus test for companies founded by women, who account for just 7.4% of Fortune 500 CEOs. That’s an all-time high but still staggeringly low.