Connectzone goes to Vegas! (for the Interop trade show)

Guest Blogger, Cable Geek

When ConnectZone decided to exhibit at the 2009 Interop show this year, we knew it was going to be a big deal. How big, we had no idea. One thing you can say about things in Las Vegas: they will never leave you disappointed.  It may leave you broke, or feeling like your soul needs a shower, but there is no such thing in Vegas as “going halfway”. The 2009 Interop show was no exception.

This is one of the bigger shows of its type.  From their website: “Interop is the leading global technology event, with the most comprehensive IT Conference and Exhibition available. Business and technology leaders attend Interop to get the most up to date information available on key technologies, learn about the latest trends and meet with leading vendors.” Like ConnectZone, for instance. 

This Geek has done plenty of trade shows before and even attended Iterop in Vegas many years ago. It was before the Internet bubble burst and the sky was the limit. The memories have all but faded of the circus-like atmosphere: the Rent-a-babes (to draw foot-traffic), hired performers (acrobats and magicians), and professional impersonators (Austin Powers was big that year).

Now that I typed that out, it sounds a lot like a 12 year old boy’s dream birthday party.  That’s weird…

This year’s Interop show, held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center,  was less frenetic and more focused on increasing ROI (a fancy term for “saving money”); a reflection of the current economic conditions worldwide. Because ConnectZone has been helping  customers get more for their money since its inception, it was natural to exhibit at Interop this time around.

Even though we are best known for cables and connectivity, we decided to highlight ConnectZone’s new line of metal products (cabinets, racks, shelves) and power distribution units (PDU’s).  With so much concern about budget these days, and limited brand choices with these products, we anticipated many companies would be looking for a better deal.  Judging by the response we got at the show, we were right on the money, pun intended.

Our metal products are displayed on our website, but we are always getting new stuff, so add it to your favorites and check back often.

The big hit at our booth was a new line of PDU’s. They have digital amp usage readout and are IP addressable, which allows you to monitor usage and even reboot equipment through the Internet. Lots of “ooh’s” and “ahh’s” over that, as you can imagine.

Our cables, though, did not get relegated to the shadows somewhere.  The Cable Geek would have none of that!   We displayed our popular CX4 cables, for 10 Gigabit data speeds. We also showed off our fiber Mode Conditioning “Launch” cables and our special Ultra-flexible DS3 cables, which we can customize in custom lengths and configurations.

The other hot item at the show was our swag: ConnectZone bottled water! The temperature outside is above 100 degrees, and guess what everyone craves? H2O, that’s what!

We met some really nice people there, both attendees and exhibitors.  In my experience, the IT world is filled with genuinely likeable and polite people, almost without exception.  Something about working in a field that is cutting edge and constantly evolving that draws a certain, well, geeky personality. That must be why this Cable Geek felt at home, as if in a GI-NORMOUS room full of fellow geeks.

7 Easy Things Every Business Can Do to Go Green

There are so many things to worry about owning a business: inventory, accounting, human resources-the list goes on and on. Being stewards not just of our businesses but our planet too-the responsible and ethical thing to do is do everything we can to “Go Green.”

In our industry it may seem like there isn’t much we can do. We don’t use much in the way of chemicals; in fact our local waste service doesn’t even offer business service recycling. Then there is always the question of cost-even if it’s the right thing to do-there can be a substantial cost to recycle batteries and printer cartridges. Well here are some ideas that will cost you little or nothing to help stop global warming.

Email. Go as paper free as you can. Connectzone.com emails invoices, purchase orders and even     credit card receipts. This saves paper, postage and human resources to stuff envelopes.

Set up a robust and reliable system to back up your accounting system. If you have that-you don’t need to print invoices to attach customer payments to because you can print them anytime if you need to. Keep the check stubs from customer payments to cross reference if you need to. This also saves storage room and paper. 

Use rechargeable batteries. With all the wireless mousses and keyboards out there-recharge batteries. Then for additional savings-if your wireless mouse requires 2 batteries-only replace one at a time to make sure you are getting the full life out of the other.

Recycle broke hardware. In the same building park we are in is a business that recycles everything from printers to monitors-for FREE. At the end of this post I will give you a website that has many recycle options-many are inexpensive. Most are free!

 Pay invoices by credit card. It reduces the use of checks (paper), envelopes and stamps.

 Think small. There is a gardener in your office somewhere, seek him or her out and ask them if they would like the corporate coffee grounds. Even the paper filters decompose in the garden really quickly.

 Think Big. Plan a rooftop garden, think of it as an enviroscape for your employees and the local birds and bees. If you don’t have the space how about a planter with a tomato plant or lettuce-it will come in handy for a lunch time BBQ.

There is something simple all of us can do and we should. It would be fiscally irresponsible not to take advantage of saving money in business. It would be globally irresponsible not to help our planet. For more ideas check out www.earth911.com

Cisco WebEx on 24

I admit it-I am a 24 junkie and I voted for Jack Bauer for President last November. 24 is fast paced, patriotic and uses a lot of really cool technology that the average Joe doesn’t know exists let alone understands. To check out a scene from last night’s 24 click here. Last night the plugs for Cisco were kind of obscene-but it did get me interested in the technology. WebEx provides technology for everything from electronic signatures to web meeting and video conferencing capabilities; Cisco calls them virtual collaboration tools.  BTW Connectzone.com sells Cisco cables if you are in need of one.

 

Product Placement 101

Am I the only person who noticed Cisco product placement in last night’s episode? I suspect not. But how many of you noticed Sprint cell phones, government agents only driving Ford SUVs and all the computers being Macs? Well it makes sense since darn near everyone has a DVR and skips commercials. I guess old dogs can learn new tricks.

 

Starkwood vs. Blackwater hey that’s downright scary. If you have a 2 monitor set up open both links and read side by side. Maybe that speaks to Kiefer Sutherland’s politics.

 

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease also scary although I don’t know enough about genetically engineering it to accelerate. I hope infecting Jack with a relative of Mad Cow Disease doesn’t spell curtains-maybe Juma also genetically engineered an antidote although I sure hope 24 isn’t going to try to jump the shark!