Power over Ethernet Interoperability By Sanjaya Maniktala

Power over Ethernet Interoperability By Sanjaya Maniktala

Preface : 

December 2007, San Jose, California: It seems a long time ago. I walked into a big networking company to head their small Power over Ethernet (PoE) applications team. Surprisingly, I hardly knew anything about PoE prior to that day, having been a switching-power conversion engineer almost all my life. But it seemed a great opportunity to widen my horizons. As you can see,

one notable outcome of that seemingly illogical career choice five years ago is the book you hold in your hands today. I hope this small body of work goes on to prove worthy of your expectations and also of all the effort that went into it. Because, behind the scenes, there is a rather interesting story to relate about its backdrop, intertwined with a small slice of modern PoE history, punctuated by a rather restive search for our roots and our true heroes, one that takes us back almost two centuries.

PoE seemed exciting from the outside, certainly enough for me to take the plunge. Intuitively, it represented the union of two huge, hitherto parallel worlds of modern development power and networking. It seemed obvious that the scion too would one day mature into a fine young adult. Soon after taking up the mantle, and the gauntlet, I somehow managed to resuscitate my skeletal systems team. Despite that near-heroic effort, even on a good day, we remained at best a freshly greased jalopy, lurching dangerously from side to side under the uneven weight of a large heirloom we discovered in our backseat—one which they insisted was a qualified principal hardware engineer reporting to me, and I of course begged to differ. On occasion, I had silently prayed that one day this artifact would materialize in our PoE lab, and even be spotted moving slowly but surely toward that dusty ol’ Le Croy oscilloscope! But that was never meant to be, I was only dreaming. My job was not destined to get any easier. Finally in 2010, defying all odds (even a sneaky curator along the way), we somehow managed to get our rickety vehicle, not only to the finish line, but first—in the entire industry.