Cisco Systems Inc. on Tuesday said it has expanded product support for the power-over-Ethernet standard.
The 802.3af specification, developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, is a technology for supplying electrical power to devices on the same copper wire as Ethernet. The IEEE ratified the standard in July 2003.
Cisco introduced on Tuesday support of the standard as an option for the network equipment maker's Catalyst 3750 modular switching platform and in the new standalone PoE switch family, the Catalyst 3560. The company also introduced 802.3af compliant 10/100/1000 and 10/100 PoE line cards for the Catalyst 6500 and 4500 Series.
Cisco, based in San Jose, Calif., first introduced support of 802.3af in September with the 7970G Internet protocol telephone.
Gordon Haff, analyst for market researcher Illuminata Inc., said PoE has grown in importance as more devices are attached to the edge of networks that may not have easily accessible power supplies. Moving power over an Ethernet reduces the cost of connecting low-power devices, ranging from IP telephones and switches to web cameras and censors.
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