Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Information Technology Tip Tuesday - Smart Machines replacing humans

Gartner has a cool read on the future of smart machines replacing the middle class workforce and how CIOs should review policy to help avoid a increase in national unemployment.

Here's a link to the Smart Machines Replacing Humans article by Gartner.

This reminded me of that Twilight Zone episode called a thing about machines.



I hope you stay employed. Comment below, thanks!

Friday, October 18, 2013

GPON, what is it and why install it?

A Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) is a point-to-multipoint, fiber to the premises network architecture in which unpowered optical splitters are used to enable a single strand of fiber to serve multiple premises, typically 16 to 128. A PON consists of an optical line terminal at the service provider's central office and a number of optical fiber network units near end users. A PON reduces the amount of fiber and central office equipment required compared with point-to-point architectures. A passive optical network is a form of fiber-optic access network.



Downstream signals are broadcast to all premises sharing multiple fibers. Encryption can prevent eavesdropping.

Let's take a quick look at why you'd install GPON. This Tellabs Passive Optical LAN video using GPON technology at the Department of Energy Sandia Lab in New Mexico gives us a good feel for the benefits.



Looks like it's time to redesign the network again. Maybe for the last time.

"By Mercy Salinas"



Friday, October 11, 2013

DS3 734 coaxial cable for the central office? For who, for what?

I guess we can start by talking about how Digital Signal Level 3 comes out to 28 T-1 lines or about 43 to 45 Mbps upstream/downstream speeds, you can also handle 672 voice conversations simultaneously. You'll usually see a DS3 coax cable installed in the last mile of the long haul.



Where is this cable installed? Could be companies who host high traffic websites, government offices, schools or a location might have a DS3 on the back end just for a "as needed" basis.

DS3 interconnect coaxial cable should always be a 75ohm cable. A 50ohm can be used but you'll have lower performance and depending on the length of the cable run a signal might not even appear. Generic requirements for central office coax cable defines 734 and 735 as being the cables used for this application. If you're looking into a coax cable you probably should also look for the GR-139-CORE as a specification.

The 734 cable has a larger conductor compared to the 735 and that'll help you on those longer cable runs, plus the cost difference ain't a big deal so I would splurge for it. The 734 is used for interconnect up to 450 feet.

Let's take a look at a Commscope 734 plenum cable from our YouTube channel.


If you're just starting your research on DS3 hopefully this post helped out and don't forget to share this post!

"By Mercy Salinas"