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.

For many companies, their employees are the backbone of their business. Without your employees, you won’t be successful. That said, every company depends on technology in order to perform daily operations. You could say that without technology, your employees can’t perform optimally; thus, you still won’t be successful. The thing is, many companies have a wide array of technology for their day-to-day work. Computers, laptops, modems, routers, switches, and servers; all of which they pack into a data center. One of the best moves a company can make to enhance their technology and network efficiency is re-cabling its data center. While re-cabling a data center may sound easy, it’s not a straightforward task; there’s a lot of room for error. Luckily, we’ve been in your shoes before and we’re going to teach you what to consider when re-cabling a data center. If you’d like to learn more, our experts break down everything you need to know and more in the comprehensive guide below.

Identify the Reason You’re Re-Cabling and Plan Accordingly

Chances are, you’re experiencing some issues if you’re thinking about re-cabling your data center. The reason could be common such as slow internet or frequent downtime. Alternatively, the reason you’re re-cabling may be more technical, such as increasing enterprise storage or global IP traffic; both of which are growing in popularity. If you don’t know why you’re re-cabling the data center, then your re-cabling attempt may be in vain. Planning is imperative to a successful data center build and re-build, and the first step of planning is naming the reason for the re-build.

Think about it, if you don’t know why you’re doing what you’re doing, how could you possibly know what to do? To determine the reason (or reasons) why, you must recognize the problem. Is your internet slow or is your company growing and you need to support more devices? Each scenario would require a different course of action and without planning ahead of time, you just might waste your time and money.

Use Available Resources To Your Advantage

Unless you’re an IT professional, nobody expects you to know what you’re doing when re-cabling a data center. Even if you have a small data center with only a couple of equipment racks, re-cabling can get complicated quickly. Luckily, we live in the information age where you can learn almost anything for free, and there are plenty of resources to help you. When it comes time to re-cable, you should become familiar with ANSI and TIA, as they determine cabling standards in the United States. Both organizations also have a ton of information and resources available to you for free—take advantage of that. Of course, you can’t overlook YouTube when it comes to “how-to” videos, but beware. You must be cautious when following a YouTube video, as there are just as many (if not more) bad videos out there for every good one. Make sure you’re taking information from a reliable source. You can also contact CableWholesale if you encounter problems, as our team offers free technical assistance. Obviously, there’s no shortage of information and resources available—don’t make the mistake of attempting to re-cable your data center on your own.

Don’t Be Cheap With Your Cables

Your cables (amongst other hardware) can make or break your data center, network reliability and performance, and information security. Far too many people make the mistake of thinking, “an Ethernet cable is just an Ethernet cable” and purchase whatever cable is cheapest—but they couldn’t be more wrong. Not all Ethernet cables are made the same. Even more so, not all companies sell the same quality Ethernet cable. You must do your research and ensure you’re using high-quality cables for your data center. There are companies out there that have no problem using low-quality or even old and used copper wires and putting a new jacket over them. At CableWholesale, all of our cables are made with new top-quality materials. Whether you need an indoor or outdoor Cat6 cable or HDMI cables; we always guarantee the best cables available.

Take the Opportunity To Practice Cable Management

Most data centers have dozens (if not hundreds) of cables, each of which serves a specific purpose. You can imagine how easy it is to get cables mixed up or snag a cable out of its respective place. To prevent downtime, you must take cable management seriously. Cable management is obviously organized, but there are several advantages of having a solid cable management system in place. First, having your cables organized and documented makes resolving a network issue much easier and faster. Additionally, if you implement cable management, you can easily replace faulty cables in the event they fail. If all your cables are tangled, the duration of downtime will only increase and unorganized cables are a headache to sort through.

Consider Adopting a Structured Cabling Approach

Companies can benefit tremendously if they organize their data centers with structured cabling in mind. Structured cabling encourages cable management and follows several standards from the organizations mentioned earlier. Additionally, structured cabling is excellent for companies looking to grow. Between the standards and organization, you can easily add more nodes with the aid of structured cabling. After all, what company doesn’t want to grow and serve more customers?

Regardless if you’re a small business or a company with thousands of employees, you need technology and data centers to operate. Moreover, if you’re a startup company, there’s a good chance you don’t even have a data center yet—even better. Learning what to consider when re-cabling a data center early is only going to make your life easier in the future. Don’t forget to reference our guide here and the other reliable resources mentioned earlier. It’s vital that you get your data center setup properly the first time. If you fail to plan ahead of time, you’re going to have a hard time getting your data center up and running without it causing a headache. The good news is that you can do it; data centers only get complicated if you complicate them. In other words, you have the power to make your data center re-cabling or initial setup very easy.

CableWholesale is your one-stop-shop whether you need switches, Ethernet cables, or equipment racks. Our team consists of industry experts with first-hand knowledge of what you need to make your data center excellent. We refuse to settle for anything less than high-quality when developing our products. You can rest assured knowing that you’ll receive top-notch quality products and customer service when you shop with CableWholesale. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us today. We look forward to working with you.

Fiber optic cables are quite possibly one of the most reliable and fastest cables of our lifetime. While there’s certainly nothing wrong with copper wire cables, many people are understandably intrigued by the many benefits of fiber optic technology. People everywhere often have the same questions about fiber optic cables: if copper wire isn’t transmitting information, what is? How exactly do fiber optic cables work? If you’d like a general understanding of how fiber optic cables work, we encourage you to read on.

The General Construction of a Fiber Optic Cable

From the outside, a fiber optic cable may appear similar or identical to a standard Cat5e copper Ethernet cable. The difference, however, is found within. Although there are several different types of fiber optic cables, they all have a similar assembly. Instead of a copper wire, you’ll find optical fibers which are approximately the same diameter as a human hair. The optical fibers are made of glass or plastic and are then surrounded by cladding (which we promise will make more sense shortly).

How Fiber Optic Cables Work

Rather than relying on electrical currents running up and down a copper wire, fiber optic cables use photons or light particles. The data transmits through the speed of light by bouncing off the walls of the optical fibers. The core of the optical fiber acts like a mirror that reflects the light. The cladding we mentioned earlier has a minor refractive index, and thus, keeps the light within the fibers.

The two primary types of fiber-optics are single-mode and multi-mode. A single-mode fiber cable only transmits data straight down a single core without bouncing off the edges. Single-mode cables are most common for large-scale projects where you need to transmit signals over a long distance. A multi-mode cable, however, bounces light off the edges and is better for short-distance applications such as linking LANs.

In general, understanding how fiber optic cables work is relatively simple. There’s a beam of light in the core of the cable, and that light travels through the distance of the cable and several layers keep the light contained.

If you’re in the market for fiber optic cables for your business or an HDMI cable with Ethernet for your home, CableWholesale is your one-stop-shop. We use only the highest-quality materials for our cables, and we offer a lifetime warranty on most of our products. Check out our inventory today!

Most homeowners will unfortunately experience a power surge at one point or another; if you haven’t, consider yourself lucky. While some surges are worse than others, we can’t deny the possible outcomes of power surges. Your electronics might get destroyed, you could blow a circuit, and power surges can even start a fire; but what triggers these surges? If you’d like to know the answer, we’re going to break down the top causes of power surges in our guide below, so be sure to read on.

Lightning Strikes

The vast majority of power surges stem from storms, specifically lightning. When a storm rolls through your area, there’s a good chance that you might have a power surge. The problem is, you can’t control the weather—but you can protect your electronics. Every home should have their valuable electronics and appliances plugged into a surge protector. Don’t assume your power strip has a surge protector built-in. You also need to ensure you’re not overloading the surge protector. Most surge protectors have a number of joules that indicate the amount of protection they provide. In general, you should look for a surge protector with at least 400 joules. The more joules, the more protection.

Overloaded Outlets

A lot of homeowners and businesses make the mistake of overloading their outlets, or worse—their circuits. Now, we’re not saying you can’t plug more than one item into an outlet, because you can; that’s what power strips are for. You shouldn’t, however, have a power strip plugged into another power strip—that’s practically asking for a power surge. Alternatively, if you overload and trip circuit breakers frequently, you may need to call an electrician to prevent power surges.

Exposed Wires

It should be obvious that nothing good ever comes out of exposed wires—but exposed wires aren’t typically your fault. If you have wires exposed around an outlet in your home, you should call an electrician to ensure the repair is done properly. Alternatively, there could be exposed wires in your city that need to be repaired. The problem is that you may experience power surges until your local electric company replaces and covers those wires.

Many of the top causes of power surges are out of your control, which is why you must take preventative measures with surge protectors. Don’t forget that a power surge can affect more than a cord; they can also affect your HDMI cables if they’re connected to, say, your television.

If you’re in need of a surge protector or a new high-speed HDMI cable with Ethernet, CableWholesale has you covered. All our products are made with only the highest quality materials. We also offer a lifetime warranty on most of our products. Check out our inventory today and don’t forget to take advantage of our free technical assistance.

If you need a reliable connection to transmit audio and visual data such as video, you’ve probably encountered two primary options: HDMI and DisplayPort. Despite the similarities between the two cables, there are some distinct differences as well. Continue reading to learn the difference between HDMI and DisplayPort cables.

The Connector

The first difference you might notice between HDMI and DisplayPort cables is their connector. Most HDMI cables have 19 pins and they’re available in a few different shapes. The common types are the standard HDMI, mini HDMI, and micro HDMI. Alternatively, the connectors on DisplayPort cables have 20 pins and come in two sizes: the standard and Mini DisplayPort (which is the same as Thunderbolt).

Resolution and Bandwidth

Arguably the most common HDMI cable today is the high-speed HDMI with Ethernet which supports 4K visual quality at 30 or 60Hz. On the other hand, DisplayPort cables also come in a variety of versions. DisplayPort 1.2 is comparable to high-speed HDMI with Ethernet in that it supports 4K quality at 75Hz. Additionally, you could get a DisplayPort 1.4 which supports 4K quality at 120Hz or 8K quality at 60Hz.

Audio

One of the defining factors between HDMI and DisplayPort cables is the audio features. HDMI has a feature known as an audio return channel (ARC), which simply means the audio signal can travel in both directions. With the exception of an ARC, the latest versions of HDMI and DisplayPort cables are comparable in terms of audio channels, quality, and capabilities.

As you can see, both cables are very similar, but the difference between HDMI and DisplayPort cables is found in their applications. In general, HDMI cables are common in entertainment centers while DisplayPort cables are common in workstations where you use high-end displays. Some avid gamers also prefer DisplayPort cables because of their graphic cards.

Whether you need a 100-foot HDMI cable or DisplayPort cable, look no further than CableWholesale. Our team consists of industry experts, and that’s why we only supply the highest-quality cables at a fair price. Check out our inventory today or give us a call if you have any questions.

We know you’ve seen them before––the internet providers trying to sell you on their “high-speed internet”–but what does that even mean? Most people fall prey to these marketing techniques when companies use attractive terms like “super-fast” or “high-speed.” We’re going to help you determine which plan is actually good for you by breaking down the internet speed classifications; read on to learn more.

Upload and Download Speeds

Before we discuss internet speed classifications in detail, we need to cover upload and download speeds. Anytime you’re surfing the web, playing a video game online, or streaming Netflix or Spotify, your internet is downloading tons of data. Alternatively, if you’re trying to post a picture or video online, or you’re on a video call like Zoom, upload speeds are crucial. Both upload and download speeds are important, but download speeds are the most important number for most tasks.

“Slow” Internet

Although defining slow and fast internet is up for debate, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) provides a general baseline to work off of. The FCC defines broadband internet as a minimum of 25 Mbps download speed and 3 Mbps upload speed. As a result, we can make a general claim that speeds less than 25 Mbps/3 Mbps would be considered slow. Although it’s almost unheard of these days in urban areas, anything in the kilobits per second (Kbps) range is considered slow.

“Fast” Internet

If you’re probably wondering what counts as fast, then you’ve got the right idea. Going back to the FCC, we can generally agree that download speeds at or above 25 Mbps are considered good. The problem is that 25 Mbps/3 Mbps isn’t going to cut it when you add several devices connected to your Wi-Fi network into the picture. Instead, most people need a minimum of 100 Mbps download speed, and as you might suspect, the higher the number the faster your internet. Currently, the fastest internet available has 2000 Mbps, but Xfinity only offers this service in certain areas.

Of course, there are numerous factors that affect your internet connection either directly or indirectly. There’s no question that most of us have several devices connected to our home and office Wi-Fi which can significantly compromise and degrade our internet connection. That said, it’s vital that you do your research and figure out around what speeds are appropriate for the number of devices you have.

One way to certainly improve your internet speed and reliability is through the use of Ethernet cables. Our team at CableWholesale specializes in all things cables and we only supply the best quality cables. Whether you’re looking for short cables or 100-foot Ethernet cables and beyond, we’ve got you covered. Check out our inventory on our online shop today and don’t forget to utilize our free technical assistance.

In a digital age, few things are more frustrating than a slow internet connection. Luckily, most people find their connection is better and faster when they connect using an Ethernet cable. That said, you should note that an Ethernet cable won’t make a difference if you don’t have a high-speed internet plan. Assuming you have a high-speed internet plan, however, it’s good to know how different Ethernet cables affect your internet speed. If you’d like to learn more, our experts have you covered in our detailed guide below.

Cat5e

Whether you’re connecting a gaming console to a router or merely need a faster connection for browsing the web on your computer, a Cat5e Ethernet cable usually does the trick. Cat5e cables are the foundation of the Ethernet cable, and with today’s technology, you shouldn’t use anything less than a Cat5e. The Cat5e cable supports speeds up to 1Gb at 100 MHz, which is suitable for most applications.

Cat6/Cat6a

If you need something more reliable for professional settings, you could upgrade to Cat6 cables. Cat6 cables are especially suitable for businesses and for anyone working from home due to COVID-19. A Cat6 Ethernet cable also supports 1Gb speeds up to 250 MHz. Additionally, a Cat6a Ethernet cable is an advanced version of the Cat6 that supports 10Gb speeds at 500 MHz. In fact, Cat6a cables are typically found in data centers and businesses.

As you can see, different Ethernet cables affect your internet speed quite significantly depending on your internet plan. That said, if your internet plan supports a high-speed connection but you’re still moving like a snail, it’s probably worth investing in quality cables.

Anytime you use Ethernet cables either at home or in the office, quality is crucial. Without quality cables, your internet speeds will never improve. At CableWholesale, we refuse to sell anything less than top-notch cables. We’re your one-stop-shop for all thing’s cables. Whether you need a 200 ft. Ethernet cable, fiber optic cables, HDMI cables, and even cable management supplies, we’ve got you covered. Check out our products today and don’t hesitate to contact us if you need any help.