PoE Midspans Cut Energy Costs

Calif.-based semiconductor maker Microsemi Corporation chose this week’s Cisco Live London show to unveil its high-efficiency Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) midspans that it says can reduce energy consumption on network cables by as much as 50 percent, compared with alternative midspans and PoE network switches.

The Microsemi PowerDsine PD-5524G EEPoE midspan, priced out at $1,799 per unit, complies with IEEE802.3at 2009 standards for delivering as much as 30 watts of power to network devices like wireless LAN access control systems and thin clients over the same standard CAT5 cabling as data.

According to Amir Asvadi, vice president and general manager/Analog Mixed Signal Group at Microsemi, "Our PD-5524G EEPoE midspan extends the industry-leading efficiency of our PowerDsine family by using a smaller internal power supply that can later be augmented with external supplies to increase per-port capacity as power-hungry devices are added to the network. Customers can optimize their power infrastructure for the highest possible efficiency today, and increase power delivery as demand grows."

Microsemi’s EEPoE products are part of the company’s range of two- and four-pair, standard- and high-power PoE solutions, including PSE ICs, splitters, and managed and unmanaged midspan products in single- to 24-port configurations, with secure remote management capabilities, and IPv4 and IPv6 addressing support.