Executive Summary

IP telephony has been generating great interest in recent years, with cost-effective telephony driving an ever-increasing number of computer and handset VoIP users to trigger a worldwide surge that seems to be growing stronger with each passing day.

The approval of the IEEE 802.3af Power over Ethernet (PoE) standard in June 2003 effectively removed a significant barrier to the widespread adoption of IP telephony, in that it greatly reduced the challenge of providing power to VoIP devices. This standard enables electric power to be delivered along the same cables that transport Ethernet data, allowing PoE-enabled switches and Midspans to deliver power over standard Category 5 or 5E Ethernet cabling to remote PoE-enabled devices, such as IP phones, WLAN access points, security systems, and RFID scanners.

PoE simplifies deployment of literally any IP-based device, particularly in areas where it may be difficult or expensive to run separate power cabling.

As the need for IP telephony installations utilizing PoE rise, businesses are faced with the dilemma of choosing a method to deliver power over Ethernet:

    1. They can either “rip out” existing network switches and replace them all with brand new PoEenabled switches, or…
    2. They can purchase Midspan devices and add them to existing Ethernet switches, to enable delivery of both power and Ethernet data to PoE-enabled IP phones.

For the full white paper download the pdf below.