Black Box Explains...Electronic vs. manual switches.
What’s the difference between electronic and manual switches? Are the benefits of electronic switches worth the price increase over manual switches?
As you might imagine, the inner workings of manual switches... more/see it noware far simpler than those of electronic switches. When you turn the dial of a manual switch, internal connections are physically moved. This is great for less complex applications, but it can cause voltage spikes that can damage particularly sensitive equipment such as laser printers.
Because electronic switches do their switching with solid-state components, you have more control in advanced applications. For example, our AC-powered, code-operated, and fallback switches offer numerous options for out-of-band management of critical network resources. They give you the remote control your operation may need. You can control your high-end applications and sensitive equipment via computer, modem, or even touch-tone phone—a convenience simply not available with manual switches. collapse
Black Box Explains...Electronic vs. manual switches.
What’s the difference between electronic and manual switches? Are the benefits of electronic switches worth the price increase over manual switches?
As you might imagine, the inner workings of manual switches are far simpler than those of electronic switches. When you turn the dial of a manual switch, internal connections are physically moved. This is great for less complex applications, but it can cause voltage spikes that can damage particularly sensitive equipment such as laser printers.
Because electronic switches do their switching with solid-state components, you have more control in advanced applications. For example, our AC-powered, code-operated, and fallback switches offer numerous options for out-of-band management of critical network resources. They give you the remote control your operation may need. You can control your high-end applications and sensitive equipment via computer, modem, or even touch-tone phone—a convenience simply not available with manual switches.
Black Box Explains... Single-Mode Fiber Optic Cable
Multimode fiber cable has multiple modes of propagation—that is, several wavelengths of light are normally used in the fiber core. In contrast, single-mode fiber cable has only one mode of... more/see it nowpropagation: a single wavelength of light in the fiber core. This means there’s no interference or overlap between the different wavelengths of light to garble your data over long distances like there is with multimode cable.
What does this get you? Distance–up to 50 times more distance than multimode fiber cable. You can also get higher bandwidth. You can use a pair of single-mode fiber strands full-duplex for up to twice the throughput of multimode fiber cable. The actual speed and distance you get will vary with the devices used with the single-mode fiber. collapse
Black Box Explains... Single-Mode Fiber Optic Cable
Multimode fiber cable has multiple modes of propagation—that is, several wavelengths of light are normally used in the fiber core. In contrast, single-mode fiber cable has only one mode of propagation: a single wavelength of light in the fiber core. This means there’s no interference or overlap between the different wavelengths of light to garble your data over long distances like there is with multimode cable.
What does this get you? Distance–up to 50 times more distance than multimode fiber cable. You can also get higher bandwidth. You can use a pair of single-mode fiber strands full-duplex for up to twice the throughput of multimode fiber cable. The actual speed and distance you get will vary with the devices used with the single-mode fiber.
Product Data Sheets (pdf)...PS/2 Style Keyboard Switches with VGA
Black Box Explains...Types of KVM switches.
Black Box has the keyboard/video switches you need to share one CPU between several workstations or to control several CPUs from one monitor and keyboard.
If you do a lot of... more/see it nowswitching, you need premium switches—our top-of-the-line ServSwitch™ KVM switches give you the most reliable connections for the amount of KVM equipment supported. With ServSwitch KVM switches, you can manage as many CPUs as you want from just one workstation, and you can access any server in any computer room from any workstation. Eliminating needless equipment not only saves you money, it also gives you more space and less clutter. Plus, you can switch between PCs, Sun®, and Mac® CPUs. ServSwitch KVM switches can also cut your electricity and cooling costs because by sharing monitors, you use less power and generate less heat.
If your switching demands are very minor, you may not need products as advanced as ServSwitch. Black Box offers switches to fill less demanding needs. Most of these are manual switches or basic electronic switches, which don’t have the sophisticated emulation technology used by the ServSwitch.
For PCs with PS/2® keyboards, try our Keyboard/Video Switches. They send keyboard signals, so your CPUs boot up as though they each have their own keyboard.
With the RS/6000™ KVM Switch, you can run up to six RS/6000 servers from one workstation. Our Keyboard/ Video Switch for Mac enables you to control up to two Mac CPUs from one keyboard and monitor.
With BLACK BOX® KVM Switches, you can share a workstation with two or four CPUs. They’re available in IBM® PC and Sun Workstation® configurations.
You’ll also find that our long-life manual Keyboard/Video Switches are perfect for basic switching applications. collapse
Black Box Explains...Types of KVM switches.
Black Box has the keyboard/video switches you need to share one CPU between several workstations or to control several CPUs from one monitor and keyboard.
If you do a lot of switching, you need premium switches—our top-of-the-line ServSwitch™ KVM switches give you the most reliable connections for the amount of KVM equipment supported. With ServSwitch KVM switches, you can manage as many CPUs as you want from just one workstation, and you can access any server in any computer room from any workstation. Eliminating needless equipment not only saves you money, it also gives you more space and less clutter. Plus, you can switch between PCs, Sun®, and Mac® CPUs. ServSwitch KVM switches can also cut your electricity and cooling costs because by sharing monitors, you use less power and generate less heat.
If your switching demands are very minor, you may not need products as advanced as ServSwitch. Black Box offers switches to fill less demanding needs. Most of these are manual switches or basic electronic switches, which don’t have the sophisticated emulation technology used by the ServSwitch.
For PCs with PS/2® keyboards, try our Keyboard/Video Switches. They send keyboard signals, so your CPUs boot up as though they each have their own keyboard.
With the RS/6000™ KVM Switch, you can run up to six RS/6000 servers from one workstation. Our Keyboard/ Video Switch for Mac enables you to control up to two Mac CPUs from one keyboard and monitor.
With BLACK BOX® KVM Switches, you can share a workstation with two or four CPUs. They’re available in IBM® PC and Sun Workstation® configurations.
You’ll also find that our long-life manual Keyboard/Video Switches are perfect for basic switching applications.