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For many this time of the year is filled with preparations for a new school year. Often the cost of school supplies, clothes, school fees, etc. are too much for the family budget, especially in a time where prices seem to be higher than ever. CPI employees experience the same struggles, but continue to look for ways to help others who live in the communities surrounding our three manufacturing facilities.
Our New Bern, N.C. employees raised a total of $420 for J. T. Barber Elementary School.
In Georgetown, Texas our employees collected school supplies for three area school districts and were able to help 181 students, including 20 of our own children. Remaining supplies were given to Special Olympics. “Our employee owners have a compassion for others,” explains Marta Rodriguez, shipping clerk and active volunteer. “We knew there was a need, especially with the current economy, and we wanted to meet the need.”
Georgetown is also sending care packages to our troops in Iraq each month. A pen pal program is also getting under way.
Not to be overlooked, our fury four-legged friends received donations from our employees In Chatsworth, Calif. who donated four boxes of toys, collars, leashes, newspapers and shampoo to the local animal shelter.
For every outreach project we undertake, it costs time and money, but we do it cheerfully and the results are well worth it. In the coming months we are planning additional projects like “Coats for Kids” and a food drive. We could say that we are doing all of this to be good corporate citizens, but the bottom line is that our motto “We’re All In This Together” reaches further than our front doors. Kim Ream, eMarketing Designer
I spend most of my days deeply immersed in the CPI Product Configurator adding updates and enhancements to make the tool as useful to our customers as possible. As the Configurator “go to guy” I often get questions about the tool’s finer points so, I thought I’d share a few that may be helpful.
How do I make changes to a product I’m in the process of configuring? While this may seem intuitive to some, I do get questions about this. First, do not use the backwards arrow button. (Fig 1) Because the Configurator is a step-by-step process, hitting the back button will not retrieve the information you provided on the last page. |
Figure 1
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Instead use the links located in the left margin under “Previous Selections”. (Fig 2) This is sometimes referred to as a “bread crumb trail”. If you hover over one of the selections, you can actually see the features you've chosen. See something you want to change? Click on that selection and you are carried back to that screen. Now, you can make any edits you want and continue on through the design. However, it is necessary to retrace your steps so the values stored in the Configurator can be reset as needed. John Bennett, Senior eMarketing Specialist
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 Figure 2 |
CPI products are used by companies worldwide and we have slick professional photos to prove it. But as employees, nothing quite makes your day like inadvertently running across one of your products in use. Just this week, there were two rack sightings; one in a Chicago mall and the other in “USA Today”.
Sarah Gaskins, a CPI employee in North Carolina, recounts her rack sighting:
"Any working Mom knows you can’t go home from a week of business travel without souvenirs for your kids. My dilemma is that the generic “Chicago Rocks” T-Shirt from the airport gift shop just won’t do for my 7-year-old drama queen. While I was in Oak Brook, IL last week attending training, I made a quick stop by the mall near my hotel.
I made my way to the closest Club Libby Lu’s. (This is every little tween girl’s dream store!) Hannah Montana was blasting from the overhead speakers. Glitter and sparkles were everywhere in sight. Finding the perfect gift was easy. My “Tween Queen” would love everything in this store. I picked up a few things and made my way to the check out.
And then, what a delight to see - standing tall and proud among all of the frill and sparkle - a CPI Standard Rack. Club Libby Lu’s offers products to make every girl feel special and an opportunity to just have fun. The great thing to see is that Chatsworth Products played a part!
Way to go CPI! Thanks for helping this working Mom rank #1 after being away from home all week!"
Tom Cabral, a CPI Sales Manager, keeps his explanation brief:
"I was in Denver waiting for my flight which was delayed two hours. I sat down next to a “USA Today” newspaper that someone had left behind. When I came to the money section, the main story was about a hacker in Moscow. I turned the page and there it was, a photo of a tech working on a telecommunication rack and the rack was from CPI. You could even see our blue sticker on the wire management! Totally cool!"
Telecommunications Rack vs. Sasquatch
Our employees may be similar to Bigfoot enthusiasts when it comes to getting a glimpse of our products in their natural habitat, but our sightings are well documented and we’ve got the photos to prove it!
Knowledge is power.
As you know, in this very competitive market it pays to be as informed as possible on what products and solutions are available. I was recently in a discussion with a customer who uses many of our products, but because he was using an older version of our catalog he was not aware of some of our newest products. With constantly changing technologies and methods of improving performance it is important that you have this resource at your fingertips. With the newest catalog, he would have been aware of the new Evolution Cable Management Family, Zone Cabling Enclosures and Fiber Management Products. If you don’t have a copy of our 2008 catalog, request one by filling out this form.
Another great source of information is our online Documentation Center. The doc center is filled with downloadable documents in PDF format. You’ll find data sheets, application sheets, installation instructions and images. You can search for documents by part number or keyword.
Our white papers are also a great source of in-depth information that many of our customers find helpful. We have a team on staff that routinely writes and update these documents. These papers can create great discussion points that may lead to a solution or the best method to accomplish your mission.
The easiest way to gain information is to pick up the phone and call 800-834-4969. Our Customer Service team or our Technical Support team can quickly answer your product questions, help track down an elusive answers or make suggestions on how to accomplish a difficult task. You can also send them an email.
The old adage “if you don’t ask, it is assumed that you know already” can hurt, because your competitor may have already asked and knows. Tom Bradley, Technical Support Supervisor
CPI has a partnership with Altima Technologies, Inc. to make and store shapes that are used with Microsoft® Visio software. These shapes are available to our customers to download at no cost. According to Altima, CPI shapes are some of the most frequently requested shapes. However, there has been a little confusion regarding those downloads as it appears there is a charge associated with the shapes. That’s not the case. The confusion may stem from the fact that our vendor has additional shapes you can download for a fee. To ensure you are downloading the free Visio shapes, go to: http://netzoomuniversal.com/ncpmfg/index.asp?mfgacronym=chpr. Do not select the "Download Shapes and Stencils" at the top of the page (unless that is the package you are looking for), but rather, scrolll down, fill in your information and select the red "Download" button. For a more detailed step-by-step overview with screenshots, please download this document. If you have any problems, please feel fee to contact CPI Technical Support at 800-834-4969. Remember, our Visio file is updated almost monthly so it pays to go back a get a fresh batch if you are a Visio “power user”. John Bennett, Senior eMarketing Specialist
CPI’s Brian Donowho, along with Corning Cable Systems’ Alan Ugolini, wrote an article that was recently published in Business Management Magazine titled “Streamlining the Data Center with High-Density Cabling Solutions”. The article describes the dynamics of the enterprise data center and the need to reduce operating costs while increasing performance. It further explains the importance of seamlessly integrating new technology deployments that are low risk, simple and easy to maintain as well as the hazards of traditional cabling.
"Traditional optical cabling solutions such as duplexed patch cords and duplexed connector assemblies work well in application-specific, low-port-count environments. But as port counts scale upwards and system equipment turnover accelerates, these solutions become unmanageable and unreliable. Also, new cabling may be pulled over decommissioned existing cable … can lead to data center reliability issues, as cable build-up in cabinets, pathways and spaces, blocks air circulation and creates hot spots. Operational cost can increase in managing this unused cabling. Networking complexity increases as channel identification becomes difficult and port utilization at the patch panel decreases."
The article goes into detail about the benefits of a modular, high-density MTP-based structured wired cabling system. Though not specifically named in the article, the product recommended by both CPI and Corning is CPI's Fiber Management Solution for TeraFrame Cabinets which was developed through a partnership between these two companies.
Features and benefits of high-density cabling solutions include:
- Zero-u space connectivity that maximizes the rack unit space available for data center electronics
- Innovative port mapping architecture from the main distribution area to the SAN Director, reducing infrastructure design and installation time
- Customized transition assemblies that attach to the high-density MTP backbone cabling infrastructure that simplify and improve initial speed of deployment and future MACs as well as promote airflow efficiency within the cabinet
- Full integration of the backbone MTP cable assemblies into the cabinet providing a streamlined approach to deploying and organizing trunk cabling in the data center
- A bulk cabling reduction in the cabinet vertical manager and SAN Director backplane of over 77 percent versus traditional patch cord cabling solutions
- Highly modular system that can be easily reconfigured to meet future data center networking requirement
I believe you will find the article to be full of useful information that will help you achieve both your business and technology goals. You can download the entire article or read it on the Business Management Website. Kim Ream, eMarketing Designer
Craven Community College, located in New Bern, North Carolina, provides a variety of degree options to over 12,000 students annually, while also serving as an accredited Cisco® Academy for students interested in advanced information technology.
The college has a training facility for their Cisco Academy and other IT training courses (Red Hat, TIA A+ Certification and Security Plus Certification) that was over crowded with a variety of racks, cabinets and cable management products from various manufacturers. Instructors felt that the data center environment, if better organized, could provide a more real-life work experience for students.
CPI became aware of the college’s desire to improve their training facility and decided to help upgrade the existing facility and better prepare students for the workplace by donating products to increase their hands-on experiences.
Craven Community College’s Jody Rouse, Networking/Security Instructor, Regional Cisco Academy Manager, and Bruce Waugh, IT Instructor of Network and Computing Hardware worked with CPI’s local IT department to obtain the products their Cisco facility needed most. The college was given multiple CPI MegaFrame® Cabinets to organize and store the training facilities routers and switches. FastTrac™ Cable Trays were received to arrange and organize cables above cabinets and throughout the data center and Fixed Wall-Mount Cabinets to increase students’ cable installation and maintenance skills. In addition CPI Patch Panels and MegaFrame Fan Kits were donated to the facility.
“Students are now extremely impressed with the training facility. Since the installation of CPI Products, they have a more professional attitude and truly value the expert environment they have to prepare in,” said Bruce. A large percentage of students studying at Craven Community College’s Cisco Academy peruse careers in network administration, therefore a real-life IT environment helps provide the ultimate learning experience.
“The first semester of Cisco Academy deals with the theoretical data center layout, what kind of infrastructure will be deployed and how to install equipment and cabling. It really covers the basis on how to layout your infrastructure, and CPI’s Products have helped us provide students with a more effective facility to learn in and perform,” explained Jody, “We are extremely impressed with the outstanding quality of CPI Products and truly appreciate the commitment that CPI has shown to Craven Community College and the community.” Nicole McLawhorn, Public Relations/Advertising Specialist