Surge protectors are vital additions to the workplace that serve to protect your data and avoid costly damage to workplace equipment. Overlooking preventive measures can lead to unnecessary power surges that threaten your company’s valued data. Choosing the right surge protector for your server rack is a vital consideration for workplace efficiency. Cable Wholesale is here to help you select the best protector for your workplace.

Clamping Voltage and Absorption Rating

Also known as the “let-through rating,” clamping voltage is the voltage that triggers the surge protector. A lower number (measured in voltage) is best to look for when buying surge protectors because it indicates that the protector will start to absorb energy at a lower voltage, protecting your server rack sooner.

Absorption rating measures how much energy the surge protector can absorb before failing. The higher the number, the better, as that means it can let through lots of voltage prior to failure. The absorption rating may be noted on the surge protector as “joule rating” and is a crucial consideration when selecting your device.

Number of Ports

Consider how many ports you need and research which surge protectors are built with the appropriate amount. It is important that the surge protector’s ports are evenly spaced to prevent any failure to absorb energy.

Consider What’s Getting Plugged In

Many of the factors accounted for when choosing the right surge protector for your server rack rely on the kind of equipment you will be plugging in. You will also need to be conscious of how many devices you will plug into the surge protector. Knowing these details will inform the necessary requirements of a sufficient protector.

Warranty

Check to see if a warranty is offered when selecting surge protectors. Some surge protectors cover the damage to devices connected to the surge protector should it fail to work properly. If a warranty is not provided, learn how to file a warranty claim. This will protect your belongings and data should your purchased device ever fail.

Cable Wholesale offers products that aim to exceed performance and quality expectations. From cat6 plenum cables to rapid wall chargers, we provide any product for your technical needs. Get in touch with us today!

Every modern company needs an impeccable computer network and internet connection. While you could have a good connection with copper cables, there’s really nothing better than fiber optic cables. Remember that copper cables transfer information through electrical currents. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with copper cables and they’re the still the standard for many, there are some downfalls. Most notably, the fact that copper cables are susceptible to interference from radio-signals, and so forth. To avoid interference and boost the network’s overall bandwidth and speeds, you should install fiber optic cables. Fiber optics transfer information with pulses of light that reflect off of small tubes of glass (in a very general sense). A few results of using fiber optic cables are eliminated interference and increased performance. What a lot of people don’t know about fiber optic cables, however, is how to install them properly. Luckily, we’ve got you covered. We put together a comprehensive guide discussing the best practices for fiber optic cable installation; read on to learn more.

Determine How Much Cable Is Necessary

Probably the most basic step of all that so many people miss is measuring their facility. You don’t want to be in the middle of installing your cables only to realize you didn’t order enough or far too much. Granted, you do want to order extra lengths because you don’t want the cables to be like a tight rope; there should be some slack. Additionally, most scenarios will require cables in a multitude of directions that require additional cable. For instance, most buildings probably aren’t lucky enough to have all their connection points in a linear direction. You may have to install the cables around corners and partially vertically, both of which can reduce the amount of cable you thought you had. Measure twice; install once.

Develop a Port Map

If you’re installing the cables yourself, you should have a detailed port map. And if you’re hiring someone else to install the cables, they’ll still ask for a port map. A port map acts as your inventory sheet and installation guidelines. The basic components of a port map include the name of each port and what it connects to, the location of network cabinets, patch panels, and additional hardware. There are two primary reasons you want a port map: reference and efficiency. Having a detailed map of your cabling and hardware will make installation much faster. Additionally, you can reference the map in the event of network issues and when you must identify which cable connects to which node or server, and so forth.

Abide by the Cable’s Tensile and Pull Load Rating

Each fiber optic cable is rated for specific pull loads and tension capability; it’s imperative that you follow those ratings. Like we briefly mentioned earlier, your cable isn’t meant to be a tight rope. The tensile rating will help you prevent putting unnecessary tension on the cable and potentially breaking the cable or the fibers. Of course, ensuring you have enough slack will also prevent breaking and unnecessary tension. Moreover, many companies must pull their cables throughout the building with cable pullers and conduit. If you’re not careful, it’s easy to damage your cables when pulling the cable. You should always use a load monitor when pulling fiber optic cables to ensure you’re staying under the cable’s pull load rating. Failure to follow the ratings could result in torn cables or broken fibers.

Reduce the Distance and Pull Lengths When Possible

Although fiber optic cables are suitable in short, medium, and long-range scenarios, you should run cables the shortest distance when possible. There are two reasons you want to reduce the distance. First, the shorter the cable distance, the faster the signal and information transfers. Moreover, a shorter cable run allows you to reduce the pull length which also minimizes your chances of breaking the cable. Anytime you’re pulling the cable long distances, you should ensure you’re using fiber optic lubricant to avoid any snags or pulls. Like we briefly mentioned before, some scenarios will require you to run the cable vertically. There’s nothing integrally wrong with running and pulling fiber optic cables vertically—you merely need to ensure you’re following the vertical rise limit of the cable you have. If you don’t abide by the rise limit—like any other instructions with fiber optic cables—you could potentially break the cable.

Never Pinch, Twist, or Bend Fiber Optic Cables

Many people don’t realize how small the fibers in a fiber optic cable truly are. To put it into perspective, optical fibers are as thin as a human hair and typically made of glass or plastic; in other words, they can be fragile. When handling fiber optic cables, you should never pinch the cable jacket to eliminate the possibility of broken fibers. Similarly, you shouldn’t twist fiber optic cables for the same reason. Finally, you’ll probably need to run your cable around a corner or bend of some sort; it’s vital that you know your cable’s permitted bend radius.

Practice Cable Management During Installation

Finally, because fiber optic cables are generally thinner than copper cables, cable management is that much more important. There are dozens of guides you could follow to help you organize your fiber optic cable setup. Part of that organization begins with your port map, from there you can familiarize yourself with zip ties and Velcro and keep the cables safely out of harm’s way.

Fiber optic technology is among the most reliable options available today. Like all network technology, fiber optics are always evolving, but the best practices for fiber optic cable installation remain constant. Now that you know how to install fiber optic cables properly, you can protect your investment by knowing your cable’s ratings and avoiding the common mistakes we discussed. For the best network results, you should always ensure you’re using quality cables. It’s tempting to purchase the cheapest ones you can find, but you get what you pay for when it comes to fiber optic technology.

At CableWholesale, our team understands how vital quality is, and that’s why we only use the best materials available in all our products. Whether you’re looking for general fiber optic cables or a 1000ft. Cat5e cable, you can count on quality when you shop with CableWholesale. Give us a call if you have any questions or check out the large inventory on our website today. Don’t forget to take advantage of our free technical assistance when you begin installation.

Whether you’re in your company’s office, your home office, or your home entertainment center; everyone will need cables for something. Cables are the means of connecting your company’s nodes with their hubs, your laptop to your router, or your gaming console to your television. If we didn’t have cables, companies wouldn’t be able to function efficiently or at all in remote work scenarios that COVID-19 forced many of us into. Moreover, despite Bluetooth connectivity being so common, we wouldn’t be able to connect many of our household devices without cables either. The problem many people face with cables, however, is their installation and cable management—but not anymore. Our experts discuss the cable installation and management best practicesin our detailed guide below; read on to learn more.

Know How Much Cable You Need Before Installation

One of the best practices of cable installation at a business is knowing how much cable you need. You don’t want to begin installing and realize you don’t have enough or you have way too much. Before you begin installing your company’s network cables, you need to measure the space so you know how much cable to purchase. Don’t forget to order extra cable because you’re probably not installing cables in a perfect line. Most businesses have twists and turns that they must run cabling through, all of which takes up some of the length of your cable. Additionally, you want some slack in the cable to prevent accidental snags and to ensure you’re not putting too much pressure on the connection point.

Use Structured Cabling in Your Facility

Commercial buildings obviously need a lot more cables than a home would. Whether you’re a small business or a large corporation, you should install your cables properly the first time around. The best way to install a large number of cables is with a method called structured cabling. In short, structured cabling is a cabling infrastructure with standards set by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and Electronic Industries Association (EIA). Structured cabling will ensure your commercial building has a dependable network that’s organized.

Label Each Cable at the Time of Installation

Whether you’re installing some cables at home or your office building, each and every cable should have a label. By labeling your cables, you can easily identify a problem by tracing it to the cable that’s involved with the network problem. Moreover, if you need to replace a failing cable, the labels make locating the problematic cable much easier. Many people don’t label their cables at home, but they wish they did every time something goes wrong and they have to find the issue in their mess of cables. Of course, you should organize your cables as well (more on that later).

Color Code Cables

When you have a large amount of cables, it’s easy to get them and their purpose mixed up, and that’s why there are many different colors available for network cables. Anytime you’re installing a lot of cables, you should color code them. Unsurprisingly, commercial applications especially need to color code their cables. Similar to labeling your cables, color coding also makes network maintenance easier. It’s entirely up to you what each color indicates, just make sure you document it so you (and others) know going forward.

Ensure Your Ceiling Cable Trays Are Large Enough

Companies almost always have a large number of cables that run throughout their facility in plenum areas, the ceiling, and different floors. Many commercial applications require cable trays to run cables throughout the building but keep them out of everyone’s way. While cable trays are great for organization, a lot of companies make a common mistake—they overload the cable trays. When cable trays are overloaded, the cables can get crushed, which obviously causes network issues. Additionally, an overloaded cable tray makes it difficult to manage and replace faulty cables. That said, you need to ensure the cable trays that your company uses are large enough to safely hold the number of cables you have.

Always Use Quality Cables

Far too many people purchase the cheapest cables they can find, while they think they’re getting a deal—however, the quality of your cables matters. Cheap cables are only going to require you to replace them sooner than you should have to. Moreover, cheap cables have low-quality materials so they don’t usually provide the reliability people need. Alternatively, you need to invest in high-quality cables from a reputable supplier like Cable Wholesale. Our cables are made with the highest-quality materials available to ensure optimal performance.

Take the Time To Organize

Whether you’re installing new cables throughout your company or at home, you should take the extra time to organize them. At the office, you can organize your cables with structured cabling and cable management products like raceways and carpet runners. Alternatively, a lot of people are guilty of having a mess of cables behind the entertainment center—but it doesn’t have to be that way. The best way to organize your cables is to minimize them when possible. You can enhance your entertainment center by combining your HDMI and Ethernet cable with a high-speed HDMI cable with Ethernet and cable wraps.

Everybody who uses cables needs to know these cable installation and management best practices. As you probably noticed, everything mentioned in this guide works together or moves you closer to a better experience. Maintenance and troubleshooting are only efficient if you take the time to organize and label your cables. Additionally, you’ll reduce the amount of time you spend maintaining the cables and your network by investing in high-quality cables and using structured cabling.

If you’re looking for the best quality cables at a fair price, Cable Wholesale is the supplier for you. Our team consists of industry professionals, which means we know how important cable quality is. When you shop with Cable
Wholesale, you’re purchasing a product that seasoned professionals would use themselves. You can rest assured that you’re getting quality products when you shop with us, but we provide lifetime warranties on most of our products just to offer our customers peace of mind. Additionally, we offer technical assistance to all our customers for free. If you have any questions regarding anything about cables, our team is here for you. Contact us or check out our inventory today. We know how important speedy delivery is to most people, and that’s why we offer same-day shipping on most orders. So, what are you waiting for? Get your quality cables today.

Network topologies are vital to a network’s performance. There are several topologies to choose from, and each of which has its own advantages. The star topology, however, is one of the most common topologies among organizations because of its numerous benefits. If you’d like to learn the advantages of a star topology, we’ve got you covered below.

It’s Easy To Add (or Remove) Devices

Every organization wants to grow to some extent, and part of that growth requires additional workstations. Some topologies are difficult to add or remove nodes from, but a star topology is extremely simple because every node connects to a central hub. In other words, as long as you have a central hub and enough ports, you can easily add additional nodes when your company grows.

Very Simple Setup and Components

A star topology is among the easiest topologies to set up because of its minimal components. The foundation of a star topology is the central hub. Each device on the network will connect to the hub with an Ethernet cable. Other than the hub and Ethernet cables, you won’t need anything for a star topology other than the devices themselves.

Problems Are Easy To Locate

Because of the extremely simple setup, a star topology is also one of the easiest setups to find network problems. In most scenarios, there’s one node that’s causing the issue, which is often a very simple fix. Additionally, if one node is failing, the rest of the network won’t be affected because each device is dependent on the central hub.

Every organization—small or large—needs a network topology that best suits their needs. Most companies want to install one topology that’s capable of growing as the company grows, and not every topology is suitable for that need. Luckily, the ability to grow with the organization is one of the advantages of a star topology.

If you need any of the components required for a star topology, CableWholesale is your one-stop-shop. Our team consists of industry experts, and that’s why all our products are made from only the highest-quality materials, ranging from outdoor Ethernet cablesto hubs and everything in between. Additionally, we back most of our products with a lifetime warranty to provide our customers with peace of mind. Check out our inventory today and reach out to us with any questions.

Outage and downtime are among the biggest hurdles for data centers. Unfortunately, there are many different situations that leave these information hubs vulnerable to both, which can be costly for data companies to endure. While some cases of data center outage are out of your control, there are tips for preventing data center outages that can help your company minimize the risk of an outage and plan for faster recoveries when they do occur.

How To Prevent Based on The Cause

Preventative measures are going to depend on which issue the data center is most commonly running into. It is beneficial to explore how to avert each cause of outages, as many data centers are susceptible to, and should be avoiding, all of them.

Hardware Failure

Data centers rely on the durability of many physical structures and their coexistence. This reliance can lead to an outage when equipment like IT hardware fails. The likelihood of an outage also increases when their cooling systems malfunction or when they have expended their durability. Fortunately, the physical features of a data center can be tended to.

• Hold routine inspections of hardware to guarantee machines are receiving necessary maintenance and are being updated when appropriate.
• Verify your hardware uses high-grade cables to ensure quality connection. Guarantee a strong online connection and prevent extensive downtime with an assortment of the cat5e patch cable>.
• Have backup hardware available to divert power from failed systems when there is downtime or an outage.

The dependency that large physical structures like data centers have on machines constantly running increases their vulnerability to crash, making hardware failure a leading cause of outages that deserves proper attention.

Crashing Software

In addition to hardware, the virtual side of IT can lead to outages. Network-based infrastructures experience significant downtime when the implemented software is outdated, glitchy, or goes untested.

As with hardware, outage issues due to software can be avoided by routinely checking that it is up to date and being properly maintained and protected.

Human Error

The most common cause of outage is human error. While it may not be entirely avoidable, these tips for preventing data center outages are a sure way to diminish it happening with regularity.

• Make sure daily operations are being documented, involving regular inventory checks.
• Enforce routine training programs to inform new employees and refresh old ones.
• Hold a high standard for your employees to follow regarding data center safety and commend them for maintaining it.

Cybercrime

Cyberattacks are destabilizing events that can result in negative PR exposure that spoils a data company’s reputation and long-term service issues that strip them of time and money. Cybercrime is on the rise and with constant developments in software, it is crucial that appropriate measures are taken to diminish the threat. This can include removing public cloud services from operations or enhancing data analytics to catch any security gaps.

CableWholesale offers a refined inventory of accessories so you can prioritize both your company’s performance and safety.