Abstract: A chassis divides vertically, with front and rear sections of the chassis joined immediately adjacent a midplane printed circuit board that supports interconnectivity of electronic circuits. Wiring within the chassis is eliminated through directed connections of all components to the midplane. Minimal hardware is required for securing the front and rear sections together, and therefore accessing the midplane for assembly and service is convenient. All components except the midplane are installed and removed from either the front or rear of the chassis without opening or disassembling the chassis. The chassis layout and features facilitate effective cooling of the components in the chassis.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for retaining a detachable cord is shown that includes two retainer halves of substantially identical proportion and construction. The retainer halves are compressed together around a detachable power cord, and are attached about the power outlet of an electronic device. The retainer halves include an anti-pullout tab that protrudes inward towards to the power cord plug to assist in retaining the cord.

Abstract: A device for converting at least four parallel data streams on respective input data lines into one serial data stream on a fiber optic data line. The device includes a first multiplexer for multiplexing at least two of the parallel data streams into a first intermediate output stream and a second multiplexer for multiplexing at least two other of the parallel data streams into a second intermediate output stream. A serializing transmitter is coupled to the first and second multiplexers for serializing the first and second intermediate output streams into the serial data stream. A signal synchronizes the serializing of the first and second intermediate output streams and tags output data in the serial data stream as corresponding to data from each of the respective input data lines. In-band messaging is used to transfer commands and status messages between devices without affecting ongoing data stream communications.

Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to a method and system for analyzing network performance by creating benchmark test results when the computer network is initialized, and subsequently testing the network while operational to determine degradations. This method and system can proactively determine problems before they result in network failures, or immediately detect network failures even before the user is aware of them. In one aspect, the disclosure is directed to a method of monitoring at least one computer network from a remote location. The method includes benchmark-testing at least one computer network with test data provided from the remote location to obtain benchmark test results. Often, benchmark-testing is performed when the network is initialized. Once operational, the remote location will perform operational-testing of at least one computer network with sample data provided from the remote location to obtain operational test result.