Power over Ethernet

A PoE-capable network switch (or a separate injector device paired with a non-PoE switch) supplies power onto the same cable pairs carrying Ethernet data, and a PoE-capable end device — a camera, access point, or sensor — draws the power it needs from that same connection rather than requiring a separate power cord and outlet. This collapses what would otherwise be two separate installation requirements — network cabling and electrical wiring — into a single cable run.

The deployment cost advantage PoE delivers is most significant precisely where running separate electrical wiring would be disproportionately expensive relative to the device being powered — a ceiling-mounted wireless access point or an outdoor-mounted camera often costs far more to wire for conventional electrical power than the device itself is worth, making PoE's single-cable installation a substantial practical and cost advantage rather than a minor convenience. This advantage is bounded by two physical constraints that shape where PoE is and isn't practical: the same roughly 100-meter distance limitation that applies to standard Ethernet data also limits how far PoE can deliver power, and the specific PoE standard in use caps how much power can be delivered, meaning higher-power devices — certain outdoor PTZ cameras, some industrial sensors — may exceed what a given PoE deployment can supply. For CE verticals, PoE is particularly valuable for exactly the kind of distributed sensor and IoT gateway deployments common in industrial and remote-site connectivity — mounting sensors and access points across a facility without requiring an electrician to run power to each individual location meaningfully reduces both deployment cost and the physical infrastructure footprint of a sensor network build-out.