About Stu Kushner

Stu Kushner began his career at Boeing Commercial Aircraft and then on to Hexcel and Case/Rixon where he specialized in CAD/CAM (computer design and robotics). In 1986, he started Progressive Office. The earliest years were about networking small businesses and providing IT support. But since 2008, the company has concentrated exclusively on providing office network cabling solutions.

Optical Fiber Cabling Usage and Methods

24 Apr 2009

Optical fiber is an effective medium for networking because it is flexible and can be bundled as cables. It is especially advantageous for long-distance network fiber-opticscommunications, because light propagates through the fiber with little attenuation compared to electrical cables. This allows long distances to be spanned with few or no repeaters. Additionally, the per-channel light signals propagating in the fiber can be easily modulated at 1 Gb/s.


Fiber cable saves space in cable ducts because a single fiber can carry much more data than a single standard data cable. Fiber is also immune to electrical interference; there is no cross-talk between signals in different cables and no pickup of environmental noise. Non-armored fiber cables do not conduct electricity, which makes fiber a good solution for protecting communications equipment located in high voltage environments such as power generation facilities, or metal communication structures prone to lightning strikes. They can also be used in environments where explosive fumes are present, without danger of ignition. Wiretapping is also more difficult compared to electrical connections, and there are concentric dual core fibers that are said to be tap-proof.


Both multi-mode and single-mode fibers are used in communications, with multi-mode fiber used mostly for shoOffice Cabling ,Network Cabling,fiber-optic-cablingrt distances, up to 550 m (600 yards), and single-mode fiber used for longer distance links. Because of the tighter tolerances required to couple light into and between single-mode fibers (core diameter about 10 micrometers), single-mode transmitters, receivers, amplifiers and other components are generally more expensive than multi-mode components.


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Network Cabling ,cat5 cat6 cabling

Choosing between Cat5e and Cat6 at your Office

24 Apr 2009

Trends


The trend is towards higher speeds, of course. Offices have faster computers, faster Internet and more demanding applications. But does this translate into a need for Cat6 cable?

cat5 cat6 cabling,Data CablingCategory 5e and Cat6 Cable


Cat 5e cable is an enhanced version of Cat 5 that adds specifications for far end crosstalk. Cat 5e cable does not enable longer cable distances for Ethernet networks: cables are still limited to a maximum of 100m (328 ft) in length. Each Cat 5e cable can carry up to 100mb/sec of data.

Cat 6 cable carries 1gb/sec of data and therefore has 10 times the data capacity of Cat 5e.

The Decision Considerations


Cat 6 will not make your Internet speeds faster. Even at fiber speeds, the Internet still only runs at a fraction of Cat 5 speeds. Cat 6 will also not make VOIP phones were better because VOIP uses only 60-90k per phone line. So, VOIP is a very unlikely reason for using Cat6 cabling

The only reason for using Cat 6 is because you are pushing a lot of data over your cable. This is true when you are running applications off of a server as in the case of a virtual PC environment where applications do not reside on the local desktop system. It is also true when you have applications that have very large data files as in CAD/CAM and other demanding graphic design systems.

A secondary, yet important, consideration is cost. Cat 6 cable is twice as expensive as Cat 5e and it also r

equires Cat 6 jacks, inserts, patch panels and switches. This can add considerably to the overall cost of a project. Any Cat 5 component will slow the connection down to 100mb.

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Computing, IT Support, Dc

Remote Control Support

4 Oct 2008

IT Support, computer-remote-controlWell, I don't know how long a good thing like this will last. But I was looking around on the Internet and I was searching for an inexpensive remote control solution. For my company, Progressive Office, we frequently need to be able to remotely control a client computer. The benefits to this capability are obvious. Some problems can be resolved remotely. And because the subscription to my current remote control solution was up for renewal, I started looking around for a new solution.


I found one! I now use CrossLoop. I setup the account and now we have the ability to remotely control any computer from any computer. It is very stable, easy to use and it's FREE. The only problem I had was that I learned that it would not support my dual monitor setup. So, I had to disable the second monitor before trying to take control of a computer. Otherwise, it has worked perfectly.


ChatStat is no longer free (see article below). So, I don't know if this will last either. But I used to pay about $100 a month. So, hopefully, if they do start to charge, it will be a lot less than $100.


Progressive Office is a Computer IT Support company in Washington, DC.

IT support, computer repair

Bad Power Supply

4 Oct 2008

bad power supplyHow do you know when you have a bad power supply? Well, the symptoms are fairly basic. I had a client call me last week. He said his computer would not turn on. So, I asked him to tell me if anything came up on the monitor. He said, "No, the monitor is blank". So, I asked if he could see any lights come on the CPU and he told me that the CPU's LEDs were also dark. So, I asked him to put his ear to the power supply and tell me if he could hear the fan turning. He said it seemed quiet.


So, as a final test, I asked him to carefully look at the power supply and to tell me if the fan is spinning. He said it was not. Therefore, the power supply was bad. The next trick was in looking up the exact make and model and finding a generic replacement that would fit into the system. We did and we were able to get his computer back up and working the same day.


Call Progressive Office if you need IT Support at 202-462-4290.

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