Plug vs. Jack? Male connector vs. female connector? Which is which?

• A plug will generally have protrusions and is considered a male connector.
• A jack has a receptacle that receives and can hold the “plug” or “male connector” and is considered a female gendered connector.

Consider a Lego: one side is male, and the other side is female.

With copper cables, this is easy to see. Take a look at a CAT6 copper patch cable. This cable has a plug, or male connector. This plug will then be inserted into the jack, or female connector.

For some fiber connectors it’s a little bit harder to actually see the difference. Take a fiber trunk with MTP® connectors. The MTP® connector comes in two versions, male and female. The male connector has two MTP® guide pins. The guide pins help to achieve precision alignment when mating ferrules. The female MTP® connector has receptacles to receive the male guide pins. Our trunks are built with female MTP® connectors, so it’s important to specify if you do need guide pins (male).

In this edition of CABLExpress’s Cable Talk Sr. Product Manager Josh Taylor shows us why we should respect Layer One copper. This Cable Talk is quick tutorial on the what Layer One Copper is, what it does, why it is important and why failing to respect it can and does cause performance issues and down time.

This is the first of two Cable Talks focused on Layer One… Look for the fiber optic edition of Cable Talk coming to you in the next few weeks.

Looking for a quick and easy way to clean up that cable mess you put on your “To-Do” list? Let CABLExpress give you a few pointers. Copper Trunking is the latest and greatest way to run CAT5e and CAT6 cabling through your Data

Center as well as network closets. The simple idea behind Copper Trunking are the factory terminated ends to create an easy installation process, when thebundled cabling is used in conjunction with a modular patch panel system it cuts down on install time by 80%.  Since the 110 punchdowns are done for you in our factory, excellent time and cable management are going to be a great benefit. You can choose from a multitude of options to pick the right trunk for your data center.

So what is a copper trunk?

A copper trunk is a preterminated copper bundle held together by a durable sheathing for quick adds, moves and changes within your Data Center. The trunk makes it easy to pull through racks, cabinets, under or above the floor or ceiling.  You can choose from riser or a plenum rated jacket, CAT5e or CAT6, staggered ends for extra cable management in a row, and we can build virtually any length! Start planning today and get CABLExpress involved. If you are confused about length let us know and we can assist. Measure from each point that the copper trunk will be running through and always add 10% for bend radius and corners! Contact anyone on the CABLExpress team today and find out how you can save time and money in your Data Center.

Special thanks to B. Szulis for contributing this post.

In this edition of CABLE Talk Josh and Brittney demonstrate the advantages of preterminated copper trunking.  In addition Brittney discussed how to properly measure trunking in your data center.

Labeling network cables and components is not a difficult job, but it is time-consuming.  In an article I recently came across had a great quote that for those of who have been in the business know is true.

“Years ago, when I worked for [a well-known service provider] putting in large installations,” recounts Lynn Pugh, president of Pugh Communications (Wamego, KS), “some of the installers would say, `Don`t label anything. That way, you know what`s going on, but nobody else does. It makes you look good. ”

While we all know we can’t operate that way today… Learn the importance of Cable Labeling in this interesting article originally published in Cabling Installation and Management.

Do you have other interesting ideas on labeling?  Let us know your thoughts.