• Home Automation

    Monster Delivers Z-Wave Win

    Who knew, Monster is getting in on the whole Z-wave thing. I can’t even find “Z-wave”  on their official website. But their Z-wave dimmers are available at a few different websites, including Smarthome: http://www.smarthome.com/8500SD/Monster-Wall-Dimmer-Switch-Z-Wave-Lighting-Control/p.aspx. I ordered one of these and my system automatically saw it (as a Leviton btw) and I was controlling yet another light in my basement within about 5 minutes. Total Z-wave win. While I don’t see the dimmers, what I do see on Monster’s website is a new Z-wave remote in their Revolution 200: http://www.monsterproducts.com/productdisplay.asp?pin=3369&id=9139.  It’s a little fancy for me (I prefer things that are beige and covered in DIP switches), but it’s cool to see…

  • Network Infrastructure,  Xsan

    Will Any Old GBIC Work?

    You have two switches and you’re thinking that you’ll use the GBIC from your old switch on you new switch.  You have an Xsan and you have a bunch of GBICs laying around and you want to know if they’ll work.  You have a fiber run and you want to use a transceiver.  Etc. This is a tricky question.  The GBICs should all work.  The general rule of thumb though is, if you use the same GBIC on both ends then you shouldn’t have a problem.  But, it’s also important that (for whatever reason) some manufacturers do require certain GBICs either to actually interface or just to support an interface.