Power (over Ethernet) to the people

摘要

Power over ethernet is going to fundamen-tally change the way LANs are used in the next three to five years by substantially lowering WLAN installation costs and removing one of the key barriers to VOIP implementations. The recent ratification of the POE standard will unleash a slew of new devices on IT managers. Accommodating these devices and applications will require strategic planning, but the benefits will likely be far-reaching. POE, known more formally as the IEEE's 802.3af spec- ification, defines a standard way for data terminal equipment to be powered over Media Dependent Interface, or MDI. The POE standard was published―the IEEE's equivalent of bestowing sainthood―in July, but a trickle of 802.3af devices started showing up well before then.