The real power behind PoE

Sabbahuddin Khan, regional manager at Allied Telesis, outlines the benefits of PoE for small to medium-sized business and argues that PoE is about much more than pushing power through LAN cables

Believe it or not the IT network has been around for going on 40 years, ably connecting PCs, printers and servers to support businesses in every sector. Over the past decade the network has evolved to deliver so much more, and the introduction of keyless entry systems, video conferencing equipment, IP security cameras and VoIP, to mention but a few, means that the once neglected network is now busier than ever with savvy businesses maximising all available bandwidth.

To date, most small to medium enterprises (SMEs) have powered these often high-demand devices through traditional means, failing to realise that they can maximise their existing network to run this equipment for them. Power over Ethernet (PoE) makes it possible for SMEs to harness the network to deliver power to these network-based devices.

In fact, PoE can do much more than just feed power down a cable and can bring a number of advantages to small and medium sized companies including cost and power savings, business continuity, improved control and better system backup.

One of the main benefits of PoE is cost savings; it reduces the time and cost of installing separate power cabling, AC (alternating current) outlets, and wall sockets; it doesn’t require a qualified, and often expensive, electrician to install; and it eliminates the need for a dedicated UPS for individual devices connected to the Ethernet – something most SMEs would consider as an option.

Green credentials

The reality is that while business users have good intentions to "go green" and reduce power consumption – whether to truly improve energy efficiency, or motivated by rising energy costs – the fact is, many businesses will leave IT equipment running all night, consuming power.

How many of us would walk out of an office and leave the lights on? Not many – yet how many people leave phone chargers or laptop power adaptors plugged in all the time, even when the device is not using the power source? The answer is a lot.

How many offices have means of switching off networking or networked equipments like wireless Access Points (AP), IP phones or surveillance cameras? Probably one out of a million. PoE powered devices can be powered on or off remotely, giving far greater control still keeping a high security level that devices like surveillance cameras need. Powering off devices ensures you only pay for power that you’re actually using.

As well as providing power to VoIP phones for emergency use, a business owner could also power down phones using software controls, not only saving a business energy but also money. A dedicated emergency phone could be allocated, with all other phones powered down when not in use.

Take for example, a company in the UAE with 200 employees who adopts VoIP phone systems across the business, with each phone handset consuming between 2W and 7W of power each day when not in use. This business could use PoE to power down equipment overnight, say between 7pm in the evening and 7am the next morning, and also at weekends and during personal and public holidays for maximum energy efficiency. A business of this size could save as much as 8,736kWh over the course of a year with this energy efficient practice in place, saving almost AED3,000 ($ 1,800) in just one year.

Ease of use

PoE powered devices require less cabling than AC and therefore are easier to install and replace and more convenient to use. What’s more, using fewer cables gives a ‘cleaner’ look. With a PoE adaptor there is no need for an AC outlet at the location of the endpoint, which offers further cost savings as it eliminates the need for an electrician to install an AC outlet – a decent cost saving for an SME.

PoE also provides easier access to hard-to-reach locations where there is a lack of space for power deployment, such as external walls or interior ceilings. In locations such as this, a business won’t have AC power, but may have devices that require power. PoE eliminates the need for high voltage cabling.

For the larger SME with offices in different parts of Europe for example, PoE is very useful for avoiding the complication with local variances in AC standards, outlets, plugs and reliability. PoE is a standardized approach across a network so it doesn’t matter if the office is in France, Germany or the UK making office expansion quicker and easier.

Maintaining Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

Traditional power is still and always will be intrinsic to the running of a business, particularly where IT is concerned. There are of course SMEs who don’t have a back-up alternative should there be a power cut, which leaves them open to losing all their data when the lights go out. But most SMEs don’t leave themselves open to such a risk and have deployed an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), which can maintain operations through a power shortage or complete power cut. With PoE SMEs can do so much more with their UPS than simply ensuring continued power to their server.

Take for example an IP phone system. In the event of a power cut, all IP phones plugged into a wall outlet will lose power, leaving the person in charge of IT and systems with a major headache. If the power endpoints are powered through a PoE switch which is plugged into a UPS, this allows for centralized uninterruptible power and ensures power is maintained, protecting the entire system in the case of such an event. This is of particular importance in industries where telecommunications systems are mission critical - What would happen to your business if your phones went down?

The fact is that businesses are legally obliged to have an emergency phone available in the event of a power shortage or an emergency situation. It’s not a nice add on extra benefit, but a legal requirement, which PoE can help a small business to meet. UPS is far simpler to achieve using PoE. By feeding UPS protected power to PoE switches IP telephone systems can continue to operate through a power cut having to deploy only a central UPS.

Power control

It’s a fact of life for everyone - at some stage your equipment may stop working entering a state where it cannot listen to NMS commands so it’s important to be prepared for when that happens. This is where PoE boasts significant advantages over AC – when PoE powered equipment hangs, the IT administrator has greater control and can power cycle off/on without so much as leaving their chair. This is easier to administer, minimizes the downtime and means that wherever you are, you can reconnect your equipment to the network.

Even for smaller devices PoE has significant draws over alternatives and Allied Telesis’ AT-6102G PoE splitter enables the remote powering, hence the control, of low voltage equipment. A business user with a number of smaller electronics devices – for example, emergency lights with low wattage – can centrally control UPS powered equipment. This is a non-conventional way to maximize the potential of PoE, which has obvious benefits especially in terms of centralized and even remote control.

PoE also enables better control over the network. A small business owner can make powerrationing decisions centrally for all PoE devices by configuring through the switches. In the case of a fully integrated system where PoE is used to power access points, door entry and intercom systems, SMEs can develop a management system intelligent enough to power down PoE devices while the premises is empty, providing an energy and cost efficient system for a small, cost sensitive business. With UPS, PoE allows faster and more flexible deployment and enables small businesses to better monitor power consumption.

PoE even has the ability to control access to your buildings. Most SMEs don’t have the finances available to provide secure access to their premises and rely on employees to lock and unlock the door. With PoE+, SMEs can supply power to a door controller for opening and closing of up to three doors.

PoE powered access control systems leverage a business’s existing IT infrastructure, eliminating the need for a local power source. In addition, installation costs are lower and set-up is far quicker.

Future proofing

Allied Telesis has seen greater demand from customers who require new features for network equipment to enable them to power up and power down to more effectively manage their power consumption, as well as pushing for greater power standards and ratings.

With standards improving all the time, devices will continue to drain less power while networks will become more and more powerful and thin clients and netbooks become ubiquitous. The result? We’re not that far off from being able to actually manage and power the entire IT system from servers to user devices as a single entity. That’s great news for small businesses where often people regularly leave their power supplies plugged in draining power even when their laptop battery is fully charged.

PoE is not "the next big thing" – the fact is, it’s available now for businesses of all sizes to take advantage of. PoE will continue to gain momentum as more compatible devices are developed and new applications are found to take advantage of the benefits of PoE but the clever few are already embracing the potential of PoE to improve efficiency and energy management, and ultimately improve their bottom line profits.

Sabbahuddin Khan is regional manager – ME Allied Telesis Middle East. Email: sabbah_khan@alliedtelesis.com or visit:alliedtelesis.com