LONDON — The IEEE has approved the 802.3af standard for power over standard Ethernet cables and the full specification will be published on or before July 11, 2003, as '802.3af-2003.'
Steve Carlson, chairman of the 802.3af Task Force, said "the 802.3af standard will provide the first global standard for power. Thousands of new and innovative products will emerge to take advantage of having the proven robustness and reliability of Ethernet along with power on the same connector."
Carlson predicted that in 10 years few would be able to remember when Ethernet ports didn't supply power.
"The standard ratification will add extra impetus to the current trend amongst silicon vendors to design chip sets for laptops and portables that require low power consumption below the 12.95W prescribed in the Power over Ethernet standard," said Amir Lehr, vice president, business development and strategic planning at PowerDsine.
PowerDsine is a leading provider of Power over LAN technology and played a significant role in the creation of the standard. The company pioneered a service to Ethernet device manufacturers and switch vendors to test conformance with the provisional standard.
To date, more than 100 terminal devices have been compliance tested by PowerDsine, including most of the leading voice over Internet Protocol phones, wireless LAN access points and IP security cameras.
"As these devices become less power-hungry and Power over Ethernet becomes the standard in most corporate IT environments, there will no longer be a need for business people to carry a variety of different plugs when traveling. Instead the RJ45 jack will become the universal power jack," added Lehr.
Power over Ethernet is already widely adopted in the market, particularly in the VoIP, wireless LAN and IP security market where, its proponents claim, it saves up to 50 percent of the overall installation costs by eliminating the need to install separate electrical wiring and power outlets.
