In This Issue: Cisco 10GBase-LR SFP Module | What is a Cat8 Ethernet Cable and How is it Different? | News to Start Your Day
Who else loves a good pen pal?! Today is National Pen Pal Day and pen pals are people to celebrate! I mean, who doesn’t love checking the mail for a hand written letter just for you? How did you meet your pen pal? We’d love to hear the story!
The CK Daily – Memorial Day Weekend
Happy Tuesday! This weekend was super busy around here. My nephew is turning 7 this week and we celebrated on Saturday. His party was a blast! He has always been one that’s an excellent gift opener… He gets so excited and so animated that it’s honestly just a joy to watch him react to each present. He was genuinely excited and thankful for everything he got. It was a great birthday!
I spent Sunday doing a lot of chores around the house, and then I had the family over on Monday for a little Memorial Day cookout. I always find myself with such conflicting emotions on Memorial Day. I do love that people spend the weekend getting together with friends and family. In this fast-paced world, we can all use a little break and downtime to just hang out and enjoy the company of those we love. It certainly feels like the unofficial kickoff to Summer which is exciting.
That said, the reality of Memorial Day is that it’s a solemn holiday. It’s a time for us to stop and remember that the freedom we enjoy comes at an immeasurable cost. As cliché as it sounds, freedom isn’t free. One day of remembering our fallen soldiers seems so inadequate, but I hope that everyone did take some time to reflect, remember, and honor those brave men and women who paid the ultimate price so that we can live freely. Although I can never repay them, I’ll forever be grateful and hope to never take for granted this life that I get to enjoy because others were willing to pay it all.
Rebecca
Product Spotlights & Updates:
Happy Tuesday! This week, we’ve got some great deals of the week and we are kicking it off with the Cisco 10GBase-LR SFP Module, SFP10GLR-R.
The Cisco 10GBase-LR SFP+ transceiver module was designed for long-range data transmission and supports data transfer over a distance of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) using single-mode fiber. This transceiver module transfers data at a rate of 10 Gigabits per second and is an ideal option for connectivity needs in large data centers, enterprise wiring closets, large campuses, and Metro Area Networks.
While this SFP+ module is capable of transmitting data over long distances, there is no minimum distance required. As such, this module is also suitable for short-range data transmission as well.
Enjoy 10% off this product this week!
What is a Cat8 Ethernet Cable and How is it Different? – CK Learning Center
What is a Cat8 Ethernet Cable?
We were told that Ethernet was going to be a thing of the past. Google tried to make fiber optics the new standard for home internet connections, and it was an obvious choice for scaling industrial applications. Somehow, Ethernet has hung in there, and new iterations arise every few years that continue to push the envelope of traditional copper wires. Today, we’re going to cover the latest iteration: Cat8. We’re going to start with the basics, but in a few short minutes, you’ll have a clear picture of what Cat8 is, how it works and why you need to be thinking about it.
Differences Between Ethernet Categories
You’ve seen the “cat” or category designations, Cat5e and Cat6 and Cat6a, plenty. If you work in more powerful internet settings you might even be familiar with Cat7. The general rule is that a higher number is a newer technology and can support higher data rates, but that’s just one of the main differences:
– Standard bandwidth (measured in MHz)
– Maximum data rate (measured in megabits per second)
– Shielding
Basic Specs for Cat8 Ethernet
Cat5 operates at 100 MHz and can transfer data at speeds up to 1000 Mbps. Cat6 works at 250 MHz and can get up to 1 Gbps. Cat7 ups the ante substantially with 600 MHz and 10 Gbps rates. This is a simplification. There are variations on each cable and some arrangements can boost or inhibit performance, but these are the numbers for which each category is tested and vetted.
The reason Cat8 is turning heads is because it is jumping several iterations in performance. It uses 2 Ghz signals to move data from 25 Gbps (Cat8.1) to 40 Gbps (Cat8.2). It’s a serious upgrade, and the implications are turning heads across IT fields.
Why Does Cat8 Ethernet Cost More?
In most things, higher performance costs more money. Sometimes that’s a purely economic issue (supply and demand or something like that), but in other cases it has to do with the cost of production. That certainly applies to Ethernet cables. Cat5 isn’t cheaper because it is slower. It is slower because it is cheaper. We’ll get into it more in a minute, but higher frequencies allow for higher data transmission rates, but making them is more expensive.
Mostly, it boils down to twists and shielding. Higher frequencies require more twists in the cable pairs, and that process is more expensive. Also, it becomes increasingly difficult to shield higher frequencies from interference and crosstalk, and as you go up in scale, the cost of raw materials for shielding get pricey. Cat7, for example, often uses gold plates for shielding. Since interference can render a cable useless, this is a big deal. With Cat8, one of the popular and most trusted types of shielding is S/FTP. This is usually established by having each pair shielded with a foil wrapping and then a 4-pair braid shield around the group of wires. This gives the maximum level of protection from interference and is found in the highest performance copper cables.
Standard Bandwidth Explained
Since standard bandwidth is such a driving force in cable design, let’s talk about how frequency really works. Essentially, the frequency of a cable determines how many 1s and 0s can be sent across the wires in a second. For basic Cat5 cables, that’s 100 million signals a second (or 100 Mhz). Cat8 uses an unprecedented 2 billion (2 GHz) signals per second. This means the cable density and quality of shielding necessary to make it work are on a whole different scale. That’s obvious when you consider that Cat8 is rated for data transfers 250 to 400 times faster than Cat5.
Cat8 Ethernet is still not widely available (we do have it available!), but the demand is already strong. Data centers are itching for a scalable copper cable that can compete with fiber optics. With the rise of data transmission due to the exponential increase in the volume of data stored, the rapid centralization of data to the cloud, and the ever increasing bandwidth available through broadband and 5G network hardware manufacturers, IT managers, and Data center engineers are constantly looking for quick, easy, and cheaper ways of moving more data. Outside of fiber, CAT8 is the new “go-to” cabling solution. Basically, any operation that needs to scale fiber optics might be looking to substitute Cat8 instead over the next few years.
You can find the full article on the CK Learning Center here.
Today’s News to Start Your Day:
- As of this morning, in the US, active COVID cases are on a decline and are reported at 5,639,539.
- The 11,976 new Covid-19 cases reported Saturday were the lowest since March 23, 2020. The World Health Organization officially declared a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. Friday saw the TSA report the highest number of travelers since the pandemic began, with more than 1.9 million people taking to the skies.
- This weekend, there’s been more back-and-forth than tennis fans are used to. Naomi Osaka, star tennis player and the highest-earning female athlete in the world, dropped out of the French Open.
- Clouds are rare on Mars and usually only pop up at the coldest time of the year near the planet’s equator. One Martian year ago though, NASA noticed some clouds forming in the sky above its veteran Curiosity rover and became determined to document them the following year. In recent months, Curiosity got to work, taking some amazing photos that show us what cloudy days are like on the Red Planet and broadening our understanding of just how clouds form far, far away.
- China’s government announced that couples will be able to have a third child, a decision meant to spark more babies in a country where population growth has hit a wall.