In September 2009, a soy-based toner created with soybean oil became available for select laser printers.

For more than a decade, the Ohio Soybean Council has worked in partnership with Battelle to develop an environmentally-friendly toner using soybeans.

Agabar has partnered with West Point Products who has released the AgriTone premium replacement toner cartridges with BIO-BASED TONER.

AgriTone is a series of re-manufactured laser toner cartridges containing toner that is 35 percent or more bio-based. In 2008 alone,  more than 900,000 cartridges were collected through the Empty Core Collection Program and recycled more than 1 million pounds of raw materials from the manufacturing process.  AgriTone replaces traditional petroleum based toner with environmentally friendly bio-based toner.

The AgriTone product is available for the following printers:

* HP LaserJet 1000 / 1200 Series

* HP LaserJet 1012 /1012 Series

* HP LaserJet 1300 HY Series

* HP LaserJet 4200 Series

* HP LaserJet 4250 Series

* HP LaserJet 4300 Series

* HP LaserJet 4350 Series

* HP LaserJet 4345 MFP

In the future, other releases will include popular small work group printers by other manufacturers.

Soy based toner increases the ease in which paper is recycled compared to petroleum-based toners, resulting in cleaner and brighter pulp for future use in a variety of second-hand products.  It also increases energy independence by alleviating the need for petroleum based toner.

This technology represents a significant leap forward in providing the printer and copier industry with a high performance bioderived toner with excellent image quality.  OSC and Battelle won an R&D 100 award for the toner technology in 2003 and OSC, Battelle and Advanced Image Resources Inc. won a Presidential Green Chemistry Award for the soy toner technology in 2008 from the EPA.

For pricing and availability, give Agabar a call at 800-503-6384

How to install fuser maintenance kit on the HP LaserJet 4200 4250 4350 4300

Turn the printer off and unplug the power cord. The fuser might be hot if you have been using the printer. As a safety precaution wait 30 minutes for the fuser to cool before proceeding.

Important Note: After you install your new fuser, you may hear excessive gear noise if the printer’s Swing Plate Drive Gear is worn out. The new gears on the new fuser may not mesh well with worn-out drive gears in your printer, causing grinding or rumbling noises. The most common culprit is the black plastic swing plate gear pictured below. This gear is a high failure rate part. So if you install a new fuser, and you begin hearing a grinding noise, you’ll want to examine your swing plate drive gear for wear and tear.

When handling the replacement transfer roller be careful not to touch the black roller surface. Oils from your skin can adversely affect print quality. Some people recommend wearing latex gloves when handling the transfer roller but it isn’t necessary if you are careful to only touch the ends. It is unlikely that you would ever notice poor print quality from accidentally touching the transfer roller’s surface.

Insert the right end of the new transfer roller first. Follow with the left end, making sure the black plastic clip at the left end of the roller is oriented with the open end facing down. When the transfer roller is seated comfortably in its slot, press down on the black plastic clip to snap the clip in place.

Resetting the maintenance count.

If the display panel on your HP LaserJet reads “perform printer maintenance”, “perform user maintenance”, or anything along those lines it means your printer needs a preventative maintenance kit. Once you have installed the maintenance kit the message will only go away if you reset the maintenance count. (Even if the message is not being displayed, the maintenance count needs to be reset.)

Reset the maintenance count on an HP LaserJet 4200, 4300, 4250, 4350

1. Turn the printer off.

2. Turn the printer back on and, as the memory begins counting, press & hold down the checkmark button while the memory is counting. The memory starts counting at 000MB immediately after you turn the power on. If you press the checkmark buttong too soon – before the memory starts counting – this procedure won’t work.

3. Continue to hold down the checkmark button until all three LEDs are illuminated.

4. Release the checkmark button.

5. Press the up arrow (Navigation) button until the message “New Maintenance Kit” appears on the control panel display.

6. Press the checkmark button once.

A message “New Maintenance Kit ” will appear in the control panel display and the printer will be reset.

Once the maintenance count has been reset the “Perform Printer Maintenance” message won’t appear again until the maintenance interval has been reached (200,000 pages on a LaserJet 4200, 4250, 4300, and 4350 series printers).

Here is a primer for those of you using Cisco Configuration Assistant (CCA) and would like to know more about the command line interface (CLI) for the UC500 Series and Cisco Integrated Services Routers .

Cisco Configuration Assistant improves network security and performance and substantially reduces deployment and configuration time. It features a simple GUI and provides everything you need to quickly set up a small office network.    CCA was designed to simplify the task of configuring, deploying, and administering Cisco Smart Business Communications System.

We strongly recommend Cisco Certified and IP Communications Specialized individuals perform all tasks for any production environment.

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Part 2 of 3

Part 3 of 3

As a Cisco Premier certified company, Agabar meets Cisco’s requirements for individual career certification achievements, customer satisfaction targets, and pre- and post-sales support capabilities.  These high standards ensure that our sales and support team is appropriately staffed to effectively sell, design, install, and support Cisco IP Networking and IP Telephony products.

Here are two short video clips showing how to punch down a CAT5e or CAT6 UTP cable onto a Keystone Jack. Keep in mind that for Voice/Data applications we use the standard T568B  and simply match the wire colors to the T568B color patterns on the jack itself. Always be sure to punch straight down onto jack, sometimes installers have a tendency to slightly shift the tool on an angle (usually because of rushing, inexperience, or both) which can cause damage to the jack.  Be sure to remove any uncut wires from the sides of the jack by using a circular motion to break wire off the jack (in case tool didn’t cut during the punch).

CAT5e

CAT6

How to recycle and re-purpose magnetic media (computer tapes):

Back in the 1960’s, new storage devices for backup were introduced to replace punch cards.  These devices used magnetic media also known as computer tape and since that time the industry has seen continual increases in capacity and changes to media formats.  As backup technology has advanced so has the magnetic media leaving in its wake a massive amount of old magnetic media.   For years Government and Commercial entities alike have destroyed their old tape and the resulting waste is dumped into our landfills.  Before destroying the tape, however, commonly they need, or are required, to securely destroy and validate the destruction of the data content on the tapes.   That costs extra.

Safe, secure, environmentally friendly asset recovery

Source reduction, including reuse, can help reduce waste disposal and handling costs.  There are some companies available who will repurpose your tapes and legitimately destroy and certify the destruction of the DATA before they sell the tapes.  Trius Technologies partners with Infinity Data Solutions for these services.  There is real value in maintaining, trading, and upgrading your magnetic tape.  As one company or agency upgrades to a higher capacity, another company or agency may be upgrading to the tape being replaced.  We can recycle, degauss, and destroy your old tape and if you are purchasing new tape, we may be able to offer you a discount against the trade-in of your present media.

“There is a secure form of data destruction that complies with Sarbannes Oxley, HIPAA, Bank Secrecy Act, City, County and Federal Organizations such as DOD that is almost entirely green and provides them with more security without shredding, incineration or other common non–green practices,” explains Jack Cruz of Infinity Data Solutions.

Data Eradication by Volser

If erasing is a concern, we provide safe and secure options that can go as far as to meet the Department of Defense Standard 5220.22-M for data clearing and sanitization including a detailed Statement of Work .  Infinity Data Solutions’ Data Eradication services guarantee secure and unprecedented safeguards and redundancies ensuring all data is safely and securely eradicated.  The audit process provides a final archive document that details the date, location, and eradication procedure for each Volser number. Audit’s are performed at your facility, Infinity Data Solutions facility, and most importantly, a final audit after data eradication.

Tape Buyback and Recycling

In many instances there is value to your old media tape. As you migrate to new platforms consider an environmentally responsible alternative to destroying your old media. Again, Infinity Data Solutions provides safe and secure options that can go as far as meeting the Department of Defense Standard 5220.22-M for data clearing and sanitization.  Recycle your old magnetic media with full confidence that complete and thorough data eradication is performed. Tape buyback allows recovering value in your old assets and converting outdated technology into resources for new tape and equipment.  The process includes a detailed Statement of Work for Data Eradication and Secure Transport.

Benefits of Reduction

The benefits of preventing waste go beyond reducing reliance on other forms of waste disposal. Preventing waste also can mean economic savings for communities, businesses, schools, and individual consumers.

Benefits of Recycling

* Recycling protects and expands U.S. manufacturing jobs and increases U.S. competitiveness.

* Recycling reduces the need for landfilling and incineration.

* Recycling prevents pollution caused by the manufacturing of products from virgin materials.

* Recycling saves energy.

* Recycling decreases emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to global climate change.

* Recycling conserves natural resources such as timber, water, and minerals.

* Recycling helps sustain the environment for future generations.

Purchasing Recycled Products

Purchasing recycled products completes the recycling loop. By “buying recycled,” governments, as well as businesses and individual consumers, each play an important role in making the recycling process a success. As consumers demand more environmentally sound products, manufacturers will continue to meet that demand by producing high-quality recycled products. Learn more about recycling terminology and to find tips on identifying recycled products.

The State of Storage is not the State of Your Storage

George Crump posted an interesting article over on Storage Switzerland that talks about the current state of the storage market from a protocol perspective. Interestingly to me, CIFS is specifically excluded from the conversation – NAS is featured, but the guts of the NAS bit only talks about NFS. In reality, NFS is a small percentage of the shared storage out there, since CIFS is built into Microsoft systems and is often used at the departmental or project level to keep storage costs down or to lighten the burden on the SAN.

But now that I’ve nit-picked, it’s a relatively solid article. A little heavy on Brocade in the SAN section, but not so much that it takes away from the article. The real issue at hand is to determine what will work forCompellent Enclosure you/your organization/projectX/whatever in the longer-term. Applications in enterprises tend to have a life of their own and just keep on going long after the designers and developers have moved off to other projects, other jobs, or sometimes even retirement. That’s a chunk of the reason that there are still so many mainframes out there. They weren’t as easy to kill as the distributed crowd (myself included) thought because they were the workhorses in the 70s and 80s, and those applications are still running today in many organizations. The same is going to be true in the enterprise. You can choose FCoE or even iSCSI, but they’re a bit higher risk than choosing FC or NAS, simply because FC and NAS are guaranteed to be around for a good long time, there are more than a handful of storage boxes running both.

I personally feel that FCoE and iSCSI are safe at this point. They are not without their adherents, and there is a lot of competition for both, signifying vendor belief that needs will grow. But it is still a bigger risk than FC or NAS, for all the reasons stated above. There’s also the increasing complexity issue. Three of the IT shops I’ve worked in have tried major standardization efforts… None tried to standardize their storage protocol. But that day should be coming. You’re already living with one file-level and one block-level if you’re a mid-sized shop or larger, don’t make it worse unless you’re going to reap benefits that warrant further fragmenting how your storage is deployed.

If you’re contemplating cloud computing, your storage is going to become more complex anyway. FCoE is your best option to limit that complexity – as eventually I suspect encrypted FCoE to take the cloud, since they can then put a SAN behind it and be done – but right now it’s just overhead and a new standard for your staff to learn. Certainly doesn’t look like Google Storage for Developers is FCoE compliant, and they’re the gorilla in that room at the moment.

Knowing that you have a base of a given architecture, it is an acceptable choice to focus instead on improving the usage of that architecture and growing it for the time being with perhaps only a few pilot projects to explore your options and the capabilities of other technologies. As many times as Fiber Channel has been declared dead, I would not be surprised if you’re starting to get a bit sheepish about continuing to deploy it. But Mr. Crump is right, FC has inertia on its side. All that Fiber Channel isn’t going away unless something replaces it that is either close and familiar or so compelling that we’ll need the new functionality the replacement offers. Thus far that protocol has not appeared.

The shared network thing hinders FCoE and iSCSI. Lots of people worry about putting this stuff on the same network as their applications, due to the congestion that could be created. But storage staff are not the people to create a dedicated Ethernet segment for your IP based storage either, so working with the network team becomes a requirement. Which I see as a good thing. The company has one IT group, they don’t care about the details. Imagine HR going “we don’t have a system for you to take time off, our compensation sub-team was unable to meet with the time accounting team”. Yeah, that’s the way it sounds when IT starts mumbling about network segments and cross functional problems. No one gets much  past the “We don’t have…” part.

I’m still an iSCSI fan-boy, even though the above doesn’t sound like it. I think it will take work to get the infrastructure right, considering half of the terms for an iSCSI network are not the standard fare of storage geeks. But to have everything on one network topology is a step toward having everything look and feel the same. The way that storage grew up, we naturally consider that SAN and NAS are two different beasts with two different sets of requirements and two different use cases. To the rest of the world, it is all just storage. And they’re (in general) right.

So instead of looking at adding another protocol to the mix or changing your infrastructure, take a look at optimizations – HBAs are available for iSCSI if you need them (and the more virtualized, the more likely they are to be needed), your FC network could probably use a speed boost, and they’re constantly working on the next larger speed (Mr. Crump says 16 Gb is on the way… Astounding), FCoE converged adapters do much the same thing as iSCSI HBAs, but also handle IP traffic at 10 Gb. And 10 Gb will help your NAS too… Assuming said NAS can utilize it or the switch was your bottleneck anyway. Tiering products like our ARX can relieve pressure points on your network behind your back, following rules you have set, FC has virtualization tools that can help FC do the same, though they’re more complex should you ever lose the virtualization product. As Mr. Crump pointed out in other Storage Switzerland articles, adding an SSD tier can speed applications without a major network overhaul… And for all of these technologies, more disk is always an option. Something like the Dell EqualLogic series can even suck in an entire new array and add it to a partition without you having to do much more than say “yes, yes, this is the partition I want to grow”. Throw in the emerging SSD market for ultra-high-speed access, and well, major changes in protocol are not required.

So moving forward, paying attention to the market is important, but as always, paying attention to what’s in your data center is more important. The days of implementing “cool new technology” just because it is “cool new technology” are long, long gone for most of us. More on that in another blog though.

from Alltop – Top Cloud Computing News

Panduit Awards Scholarships to Cisco Networking Academy Students Through Adopt-an-Academy Program

SAN JOSE, Calif., – Cisco® Networking Academy® and Panduit® Corp., a global leader in Unified Physical Infrastructure (UPI)-based solutions, are pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 Panduit Excellence Scholarships. These scholarships are given as part of the two companies’ focused efforts in the Chicago region to provide educational support to Networking Academy students as part of the Adopt-an-Academy pilot.

Adopt an Academy

* Adopt-an-Academy is a pilot program that has been developed by the Cisco Networking Academy and Panduit to create a replicable model which combines financial and in-kind resources to encourage Networking Academy students to further their technology education and pursue information technology (IT) careers.

* Three local academies were selected to participate in the Adopt-an-Academy pilot for the 2009-10 school year:  Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, Ill., Robert Morris University in Lake County, Ill., and Purdue University Calumet in Hammond, Ind.

* Nine Networking Academy students were selected to receive the $1,500 Panduit Excellence Scholarship based on academic achievement, community involvement and a demonstrated commitment to the technology field.

* In addition to scholarships, the Adopt-an-Academy pilot has kicked off a mentoring program that extends classroom learning by exposing students to industry professionals through job shadowing, hands-on engagement activities, and one-on-one career consultation.

Scholarship Recipients

* Benji Taylor, Robert Morris University, Springfield, Ill.

* Justin Hook, Robert Morris University, Chicago, Ill.

* Angelina Avalos, Robert Morris University, Lake County, Ill.

* Juan Gonzales, Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Hills, Ill.

* Randall Warning Jr., Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Hills, Ill.

* Michael Caputo, Moraine Valley Community College, Palos Hills, Ill.

* Dustin Leach, Purdue University Calumet, Hammond, Ind.

* Nicole Kirincic, Purdue University Calumet, Hammond, Ind.

* Armando Cabrera, Purdue University Calumet, Hammond, Ind.

Cisco Networking Academy

* Cisco Networking Academy is a technology education program that provides students in 165 countries with networking and technical skills to prepare them for careers in the 21st century.

* Committed to delivering the highest standard of information technology education to students of all nationalities, genders and economic brackets, the Networking Academy is designed to offer students real-world skills that will position them for employment and career growth.

* There are currently more than 2,100 academies across the United States, with nearly 600,000 students having completed coursework preparing them for careers in information technology.

Supporting Quotes:

* Amy Christen, vice president of corporate affairs and general manager of the Cisco Networking Academy, said:

“Now more than ever, partnerships can help to ensure that all students have access to the latest technology and the local business community for internships, mentoring, financial assistance and rewarding careers in IT. With this financial aid, Panduit has demonstrated its commitment to providing educational opportunities and helping students to pursue their goals.”

* Tom Donovan, president, Panduit Corp., said:

“Panduit has always valued technology-oriented education and is thrilled to provide students in the community with an opportunity to participate in the Cisco Networking Academy program.  We congratulate these scholarship winners and wish them well as they advance in their educational and professional careers.”

Supporting Resources:

* Cisco Networking Academy: http://www.cisco.com/go/netacad

About Panduit

Panduit is a world-class developer and provider of leading-edge solutions that help customers optimize the physical infrastructure through simplification, agility and operational efficiency. Panduit’s Unified Physical Infrastructure (UPI) based solutions give enterprises the capabilities to connect, manage and automate communications, computing, power, control and security systems for a smarter, unified business foundation. Strong relationships with technology leaders complemented with its global staff and unmatched service and support make Panduit a valuable and trusted partner. (www.panduit.com)

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Cisco, the Cisco logo, Cisco Systems, and Networking Academy are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. This document is Cisco Public Information.

The latest version of Greenpeace’s Cool IT Leaderboard reveals how some global IT companies are leading the industry by proving the potential of IT solutions to address climate change and reshape energy use, while others seem unable to decide if IT climate solutions are a significant business opportunity or a simple marketing strategy.

Cisco vaults to the top of the Leaderboard, doubling its score from the previous version by demonstrating the effectiveness of its greenhouse emissions-saving solutions such as smart grid technology and office energy management. Ericsson debuts at second place, on the strength of its real world case studies, which measure how its solutions are driving down emissions.

“To play a significant role in helping make sure global greenhouse gas emissions peak by 2015, IT companies need to deliver upon the promise that their technology can provide substantial climate savings today,” said Greenpeace Campaigner Casey Harrell.  “Leaders such as Cisco are actively investing in climate solutions, while others are merely signaling  commitments, hoping that lofty words are as good as action.”

Greenpeace’s assessment showcases examples of IT solutions leadership including:

–Cisco: aggressively moving to drive smart grid technology and has demonstrated the significant impact of its solutions offerings in reducing energy consumption through office design and energy management.

–Google: its PowerMeter tool provides real time energy consumption information allowing consumers to take action and reduce energy use. It is also demonstrating strong policy advocacy to require utilities to make smart meter data available in real time.

–Ericsson and Fujitsu: both have developed a strong methodology for measuring net impact of their solutions, which is essential for evaluating the impact of IT on a broad scale. Fujitsu is also the first company to set a credible goal for the overall amount of carbon savings provided to its customers.

Perhaps no company demonstrates IT’s potential to make a difference while also representing the industry’s significant contribution to climate change (4) more than Google. Ranked sixth, Google remains the top scoring company on political advocacy, having put forward a clear vision for moving to a clean energy economy. Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been vocal on the failure of the current political system to get the policies right to drive transformative investment in clean energy technologies.

However, Google has no emission reduction targets, nor does it release or disclose its own emissions. This lack of transparency puts Google significantly out of step with most other technology companies, and weakens its ability to be an effective advocate.

“Google and other IT companies can help shape policies to rapidly deploy IT solutions to help slow and reverse climate change, while increasing their revenue and growing in a more responsible way,” said Harrell. “The company bottom line coupled with the environmental bottom line, the need to curb a growing greenhouse gas emissions, should send the IT industry to the front lines in the battle for a clean energy economy. The sector needs to step up its policy advocacy now.”

For more information on Greenpeace’s rankings and on their “Cool IT” program, please visit: http://www.greenpeace.org/coolit/

Interactive Video to Connect Global Soccer Fans With Teams, Players and Coaches

SAN JOSE, Calif., and JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, May 20, 2010 – Cisco today announced that ESPN will use Cisco TelePresenceTM to deliver live and recorded coverage of soccer matches and connect the global soccer community with teams, players and coaches at the 2010 FIFA World Cup Soccer Tournament in South Africa.  The incorporation of Cisco TelePresence will allow ESPN to deliver televised content more effectively and economically as well as enhance soccer fans’ viewing experience. Cisco TelePresence, which uses high-definition video and audio to create a face-to-face virtual experience, will further enhance ESPN’s coverage of soccer matches throughout the month long tournament. By using the existing Cisco broadband network in South Africa, the two industry leaders are transforming the sports television industry by enabling a more timely delivery of video content, including greater fan access to unique game analysis and player footage.

ESPN is taking advantage of the Cisco TelePresence HD real-time video for its live coverage of the 19th FIFA World Cup Soccer Tournament, a first for any video communications solution. The technology will also give the worldwide leader in sports increased flexibility and expanded coverage, enhancing both the content and coverage of the games. The immersive experience is made possible with imperceptible latency, regardless of distance, ultimately leading to a more compelling interview.  In addition, with the deployment of Cisco TelePresence in South Africa, ESPN will be able to host remote interviews with visiting country leaders, coaches, players and fans, all from highly secure and quiet locations with convenient access to key stadium sites.  The remote broadcast interviews captured via Cisco TelePresence will then be accessible for soccer fans to view on ESPN’s worldwide soccer sites.

FACTS

Advantage ESPN: Business Benefits

* By utilizing Cisco TelePresence to conduct exclusive World Cup reports from Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, ESPN will achieve significant cost savings as compared to traditional remote interviews.

* Even though these two locations are hundreds of miles from the International Broadcast Center in Johannesburg, Cisco TelePresence technology negates the need for ESPN to send news trucks to the host cities, creating an “always available” virtual studio.

* ESPN will televise exclusive World Cup reports from Cape Town and Port Elizabeth on the network’s news and information shows.

Ball in the Fan’s Goal: Dynamic Video Experience

* Most soccer enthusiasts will want to maximize their viewing experience with access to more behind-the-scenes footage. Cisco TelePresence gives ESPN the opportunity to present a larger number of interviews with players, coaches and analysts.

* All Cisco TelePresence interviews captured during the tournament will be converted to video files for posting and viewing on the ESPN Soccernet site.

* This Cisco TelePresence technology will be used for remote face-to-face interactions for other upcoming sporting events.

Overtime: What’s Next

* As the TV business model continues to evolve, Cisco is innovating the way that sports and media organizations deliver content, providing a timely delivery of unique video content into the home and allowing fans to engage in richer ways with the sports and teams they love.

* The Cisco TelePresence ecosystem will continue to expand worldwide, changing the game for how fans experience sports.

Executive Quotes:

* “Having Cisco Telepresence in the arsenal of content-contribution tools ESPN is using in South Africa allows us to give fans unique content that brings the World Cup one step closer to home,” said Rob Hunter, ESPN vice president for innovation. “Cisco TelePresence will connect fans and our audience to the action in Capetown and Port Elizabeth in ways that weren’t previously possible.”

* “The 2010 World Cup is one of the largest global sporting events, and we’re excited to join forces with ESPN to branch out and do something different, giving fans the ultimate viewing experience,” said David Hsieh, vice president of marketing for emerging technologies, Cisco. “Cisco TelePresence technology is changing the way television organizations think about the connection between content creation and fan consumption of sports content.”

* “The World Cup is one of the premier sporting events that unite communities across the globe. It transcends borders, languages and cultures,” said Paul Mountford, senior vice president of emerging markets, Cisco. “And as a global company that is focused on connecting communities through the collaborative use of technology, we’re excited to work with ESPN in bringing interactive communications services to the residents of South Africa and beyond. Coupled with the new Internet connectivity that SEACOM is bringing to South Africa, the region has a unique opportunity to transform the lives of its citizens and make the tournament one of the most connected events in sports.”

ESPN – Cisco Hosts Global World Cup Press Conference Using Cisco TelePresence

Today ESPN and Cisco hosted a live global press conference over Cisco TelePresence, involving soccer enthusiasts/broadcasters and business leaders from both organizations. Global sports, business and technology media were also in attendance from Toronto, New York, London, Warsaw, Kiev, São Paulo and Johannesburg. This event was intended to demonstrate the remote video connectivity benefits associated with Cisco TelePresence and highlight how this technology will play a key role in delivering in-depth sports reports of the World Cup to soccer fans around the world.  For more details on the Cisco TelePresence press conference, please visit the following link: http://tools.cisco.com/cmn/jsp/index.jsp?id=101319.

Supporting Resources:

* Cisco Sports and Entertainment

* Official Site: ESPN

* Official Site: 2010 FIFA World Cup

* Cisco  TelePresence

About ESPN

ESPN, Inc. is the world’s leading multinational, multimedia sports entertainment company featuring a portfolio of over 50 multimedia sports assets. The company is comprised of six domestic television networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, ESPN Classic & ESPN Deportes), ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU & ESPNEWS HD simulcast services, ESPN Regional Television, ESPN International (46 networks, syndication, radio, web sites), ESPN Radio, ESPN.com, ESPN The Magazine, ESPN Enterprises, ESPN PPV, ESPN Zones (sports-themed restaurants), and other growing new businesses including ESPN3.com (Broadband, formerly ESPN360.com), ESPN Mobile Properties, ESPN on Demand and ESPN Interactive.  Based in Bristol, Conn., ESPN is 80 percent owned by ABC, Inc., which is an indirect subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company.  The Hearst Corporation holds a 20 percent interest in ESPN.

About Cisco Systems

Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate, this year celebrates 25 years of technology innovation, operational excellence and corporate social responsibility. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.

# # #

Cisco, the Cisco logo, Cisco Systems and Cisco TelePresence are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. This document is Cisco Public Information.

Plain old telephone service (POTS) is the voice-grade telephone  service that remains the basic form of residential and small business service connection to the telephone network in most parts of the world. The name is a retronym, and is a reflection of the telephone service still available after the advent of more advanced forms of telephony such as ISDN, mobile phones and VoIP. POTS has been available almost since the introduction of the public telephone system in the late 19th century, in a form mostly unchanged to the normal user despite the introduction of Touch-Tone dialing, electronic telephone exchanges and fiber-optic communication into the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

The system was originally known as the Post Office Telephone Service or Post Office Telephone System in many countries. The term was dropped as telephone services were removed from the control of national post offices.

POTS services include:

* bi-directional, or full duplex, voice path with limited frequency range of 300 to 3400 Hz: in other words, a signal to carry the sound of the human voice both ways at once;

* call-progress tones, such as dial tone and ringing signal;

* subscriber dialing;

* operator services, such as directory assistance, long distance, and conference calling assistance;

* a standards compliant analog telephone interface including BORSCHT functions

In the United States, the pair of wires from the central switch office to a subscriber’s home is called a subscriber loop. It is typically powered by ?48V direct current (DC) and backed up by a large bank of batteries (connected in series) in the central office, resulting in continuation of service during most commercial power outages. The subscriber loop typically carries a “load” of about 300 Ohms, and does not pose a threat of electrocution to human beings (although shorting the loop can be felt as an unpleasant sensation).

Many calling features became available to POTS subscribers after computerization of telephone exchanges during the 1970s and 1980s. The services include:

* Voicemail

* Caller ID

* Call waiting

* Speed dialing

* Conference call (three-way calling)

* Enhanced 911

* Centrex

* and other services.

The communications circuits of the PSTN continue to be modernized by advances in digital communications; however, other than improving sound quality, these changes have been mainly transparent to the POTS customer. In most cases, the function of the POTS local loop presented to the customer for connection to telephone equipment is practically unchanged and remains compatible with old Pulse dialing telephones, even ones dating back to the early 20th century.

Due to the wide availability of POTS, new forms of communications devices such as modems and facsimile machines are designed to use POTS to transmit digital information.

Reliability

While POTS provides limited features, low bandwidth and no mobile capabilities, it provides greater reliability than other telephony systems (mobile phone, VoIP, etc.). Many telephone service providers attempt to achieve “dial-tone availability” more than 99.999% of the time the telephone is taken off-hook. This is an often cited benchmark in marketing and systems-engineering comparisons, called the “five nines” reliability standard. It is equivalent to having a dial-tone available for all but less than five minutes each year.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia