Phihong ( www.phihong.com), a provider of network power solutions, announced it has settled its litigation with PowerDsine and, as part of the settlement, PowerDsine granted Phihong a license to use its U.S. patent number 6,473,608 in connection with the manufacture and sale of power supply system units used for supplying power-over-Ethernet (PoE) cabling systems. This patent covers Ethernet ports supplying power between switch/hub equipment and devices to be powered via communication cabling over spare wire pairs not used for data communication.
"We are very pleased to reach an amicable settlement and licensing agreement with PowerDsine," said Keith Hopwood, Phihong's Vice President of Marketing. "This settlement allows us to focus our energies on providing cost-effective Power-over-Ethernet solutions for the marketplace."
Power-over-Ethernet allows both power and data to be carried over a single Ethernet cable, enabling a device to operate entirely from the power it receives through the data cable.