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ISP Supplies is now an RF elements direct distributor

We are pleased to announce that ISP Supplies is now an RF elements stocking distributor  Read more...

RF elements manufactures specialized wireless antennas and accessories compatible with several different wireless boards and radios, but the majority of their products are for MikroTik RouterBOARDS. RF elements products are all innovative and uniquely designed to fill gaps and solve problems experienced by WISP’s and integrators alike.  As a stocking distributor, you can now skip the hassle and get these products direct from ISP Supplies.

Here are some of RF elements unique and innovative products, available for pre-order now at ISP Supplies:

StationBox InSpot New from RF elements, this indoor case houses a MikroTik RouterBoard in a stylish "smoke detector" style case with provision for MiMo antennas. The StationBox InSpot is an indoor enclosure designed for building wireless hotspots. The StationBox InSpot directly supports MikroTik RouterBoard RB912, RB711 and RB411, and also accommodates integrated RB751s and RB951s. InSpot enables installation on a wall or on a ceiling tile.	StationBox ALU Finally, an IP65 rated outdoor enclosure for wireless platforms and access points. Cast aluminium construction is covered with UV resistant paint and offers excellent weather resistance and improved RF noise protection. Inner mounting plate is made of ABS and has premolded holes for installation of most used wireless platforms as MikroTik, Alix or TP-link. Other devices of choice can be installed as well.
StationBox S Housing a RB411 or 711 board, these sleek cases snap directly to a Ubiquiti Rocket antenna or an RF elements sector giving you great versatility! The combination of MikroTik RouterOS power with low cost, high peformance Ubiquiti antennas is unbeatable. Add Waveguard and your link or sector is rock solid.  This box features 2X2 MiMo, and snap together design.  "S" for speed, "S" for snap together design, this box is fast!	MIMO 2/5-120 RF elements MiMo Sector Antennas demonstrate a new standard in compatibility, price/performance, ease of use and environmental resistance.  Antennas are equipped with quick mounting system compatible with RF elements StationBox S, and MikroTik Routerboard technology.  Antennas are designed to fullfill both functional and esthetic criteria. Antenna has smooth curves and almost organic shape. Light, high-performance, easy on the eye and durable, these low cost sectors are great.

ISP Supplies is MikroTik, Ubiquiti and SAF Certified. We have conducted training for the US Department of Justice, Level(3) Communications, the Smithsonian Institute, John Deere, CenturyLink and many others. Trust us with your network. Like us on FaceBook Follow us on Twitter Watch our blog

RF elements Product Videos                                  StationBox ALU                                                       NanoBracket SEXTANT

MikroTik Training in Columbus

I began the first day of MikroTik MTCNA class today at the Downtown Technology Center in Columbus, Ohio.  Class size is great and everyone is eager to learn. So far we have covered basic subnetting and the lab setup and are now enjoying pizza courtesy of Brescoe Broadband, the class sponsor.  The Downtown Technology Center is nice, well laid out and their training room is perfect.    Columbus is the typical large city with tons of burbs outside the city, and a German Town area I would like to explore.  Time to head back to class.  More later...

March WISP News

Fiber to the People That's the headline for MikroTik's announcement of their new switch, the RB260GS. The addition of an SFP cage for fiber connections is what makes this low cost managed switch special.  The original RB250G received some early bad reviews due to bugs in the release software but after an upgrade we have found these little switches to be very stable and really useful. The addition of the SFP port means these switches will be great for interconnecting buildings at Gigabit speeds without the fear of floating grounds or port burnout as seen using copper conductors. Don't let the RB751 style case fool you, this is definitely a switch, not a router and it handles 802.1Q VLANs with ease. KamFab Creates New Product Taking Tower Climber's Suggestions to Heart You spoke and KamFab listened!  Tower climbers have been asking for an outdoor enclosure for MikroTik boards that would accept large boards like the RB800.  KamFab listened and created the 291SL, an all aluminum weatherproof enclosure that will accept the largest MikroTik RouterBOARDS with extra room for radio cards, pigtails, and even a mounting pad for a surge suppressor!  The aluminum box will not rust and you won't break your back pulling it up the tower.   The Router You Have Been Waiting For More than one vendor has produced aftermarket rack mount enclosures for MikroTik Routerboards to solve the need for an enterprise routing solution and now MikroTik has filled the void with a preconfigured solution in a 1 U form factor.  The RB2011-RM comes in several different flavors, with and without the LCD screen and looks great in any rack. One negative attribute we have noticed is that the power supply is attached in a semi-permanent manner.  The goal of the design is to prevent the power cable from being accidentally knocked out of the connector but it does make it difficult to handle and it looks strange.  That is our only criticism of this well finished rack mount solution. MikroTik Adding Wireless Controller Capability Although there has yet to be a formal announcement, we recently saw a new page appear on the wiki.  The page describes a new feature, Wireless Controller.   Here is an excerpt: Wireless Controller feature allows you to centralize wireless network management and data processing. When using the Wireless Controller (WLC) feature, a network consists of a number of Access Points (AP's) that provide wireless connectivity and a Controller that manages AP configuration and takes care of client authentication and data forwarding. When an AP is controlled by the WLC it only requires configuration that allows it to establish connection with controller. Functions that were conventionally executed by the AP (like access control, client authentication, data forwarding) are now executed by WLC. The AP now merely takes care of wireless link layer encryption/decryption and forwards all data it receives from clients to the WLC over a data connection. This simplifies new AP deployment and control over multiple APs. Could this be a competitor for UniFi?

Ubiquiti shipment just arrived

I am sure you, like many, have been waiting for some Ubiquiti items that have been out of stock for quite some time.  Today the truck arrived with our shipment and these orders will be going out immediately.  Need 5G-25's or Rocket Dish antennas?  Come get them now at http://www.ispsupplies.com.

Ubiquiti Edge Router is In

I just received these today at ISP Supplies, the Ubiquiti ERLite-3 also known as the Ubiquiti Edge Router. Testing and will let you know the results. Place your order before they are all gone!

CloudCore CCR Test Update

With my SFP modules in hand, I retested with 16 gig ports connected. The test was done with connection tracking on and routing. I did not do a bridging test because I can't see anyone using this router in bridging mode. To say the least I am impressed.  With standard packets, I saw consistent 15.6 GBps throughput and with small packets I saw an average of 16.6 million packets per second.  Nice!

With small packets all 36 cores were maxed out but with standard 1500 byte packets I saw less than 5% CPU. That too is impressive.

Small packets:

Standard packets:

Here is the test setup on the bench:

We still have a few MikroTik Cloudcore CCR1036-12G-4S in stock at ISP Supplies. Visit us at http//www.ispsupplies.com.

MikroTik Router OS v6.0 rc7 released!

What's new in 6.0rc7 (2013-Jan-18 13:04):

*) dhcp relay - possibility to add relay agent information option;
*) lcd - options current-interface, time-interval and all-interface-mode
  no longer get reset after reboot;
*) fix reboot in virtualized enviroment;
*) lcd - improve slideshow screen;
*) console - file print now shows file size as small number with suffix;
*) dhcp v4 - fix problem when sometimes client or server failed to send packets
  most likely it happened on vlan interfaces;
*) ipv6 - added setting to disable forwarding;
*) added "/ip neighbor discovery settings" menu with "default=yes/no" setting;

We have tons of MikroTik Routers at ISP Supplies.

MikroTik CloudCore Test Results

After a few minutes of beating me head against the wall to figure out how to use the traffic generator tool, I was finally able to get a good test of the new MikroTik Cloudcore CCR-1036, 36 core routers.  Here is my test setup:

Here are the results with small packets, the important line here is the TOT line:

And standard packets, again look at the TOT line:

As you can see, with small packets it runs out of steam at 17 million packets per second without totally filling the 12 Gig interfaces but with standard 1500 byte packets, it is able to run wire speed (well almost, 11.8 is close enough to 12!) with 12 Gig interfaces connected.

Tomorrow I will try the same test with 16 interfaces as I have some SFP modules and patch cables being sent to my hotel.

Overall, I am quite impressed with this piece of hardware and I can't imagine having an ISP application that will use all of its resources.

CloudCore CCR Router Tests

Look what's on my desk!

Check back for my tests with the MikroTik CCR1036-12G-4S routers, coming soon.

ISP Supplies now seventh largest US MikroTik distributor

ISP Supplies is now the seventh largest US distributor of MikroTik products. Thank you to our customers! http://www.mikrotik.com/buy/northamerica/usa