New Power-over-Ethernet Consortium Emerges

Power supply vendor Phihong USA (www.phihong.com) has joined with other major PoE technology developers to form the new Power-over-Ethernet Technology consortium. The consortium includes a group of technology leaders in network systems and component manufacturing such as Akros Silicon, Cisco Systems, Molex, and ProCurve Networking by HP. The PoETec committee will work to implement IEEE 802.3 power-over-Ethernet equipment by defining a new set of standard specifications.

"As a member of the IEEE 802.3at task force, we felt it was an important next step for us to help define physical and software specifications that would make it easier for users to implement PoE Technology," said Keith Hopwood, vice president of marketing for Phihong USA. "This ensures multiple solutions from a variety of vendors will follow a standard set of physical parameters and software protocols."

The PoETec specifications include a bitwise synchronous and asynchronous layer 2 serial interface and a layer 3 message set to operate power sourcing equipment functions. The specifications also define a 168-pin power sourcing equipment circuit board module pin out and interface description; RJ-45 modular connector blocks; and power device and power sourcing equipment management information blocks. For more information about the PoETec consortium, see http://www.0baseT.org.