The Bright Future of Power Over Ethernet-Driven LEDs

The marriage between telecommunications and energy management is rife with potential. And, for that reason, the marriage promises to be a long and happy one. To date, most of the discussion has been focused on the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) to manage energy consumption. A related – and arguably deeper – relationship between the two is emerging. Buildings in general and office buildings in particularly house miles and miles of cables that support the local-area networks (LANs) that link PCs, printers, WiFi access points (APs) and other pieces of technology. The copper and coaxial cables that are the physical media for LANs are capable of carrying small amounts of electricity. Thus, some of the less demanding equipment – such as phones and APs — can be line powered.