New Computer Powered By PoE

BlakeCaldwell writes "BBC News is reporting about a new PC that's powered via a network cable rather than through a wall socket. The computer only requires 12 watts, lower than the upper limit of 15.4 watts that power over ethernet (PoE) can supply. FTA: 'PoE could end up being a universal power supply system as the cables and connectors for it are the same all over the world. By contrast power sockets and plugs differ by country.'"

Comments

Almost Brilliant

[AKAImBatman]

I was thinking that this had to be one of the most brilliant ideas ever, right up until I realized that users are moving toward WIFI for connectivity. If this had srrived two to three years ago, we might all be using it now. But at this juncture? Likely to be ignored. :-/

Re:Almost Brilliant

[terraformer]

I agree totally, but with one caveat. I work in energy efficiency and specifically that of computers. Business and Enterprise continue to use 10baseT and show no signs of changing that for their desktops (not saying they are not using WiFi...) and a business with 10K pcs spends hundreds of thousands to as much as a million dollars on energy a year for PCs (including monitor). What this eliminates is a power supply per pc and the attendant overhead. Consolidating the power supplies groups of computers (power supplies/transformers have efficiency issues depending on load). Also, this forces them to build a desktop with the usage profile of a highly efficient laptop to get under the 15.4 watt limit. The cost savings of using this technology could be very attractive to business. The WiFi concern is one in home and small business networks primarily.

Re:Almost Brilliant but who pays for it

[Speare]

Uh, fewer cables and redundant AC/DC converters (wall warts)? Why does every single device need to have a heavy power-processing unit to do the same task of AC/DC conversion? Do it once and make many devices share the low-voltage supply.

Apple's power thru firewire

[adzoox]

I've always liked the iPod ACs that used firewire cables to charge the iPod & thought Apple (to save money and promote firewire) should standardize all their ACs to this spec and same look.

PoE is a kludge!

[wowbagger]

PoE is just another kludge being standardized because the industry is too lazy and stupid to define a proper standard.

Ethernet cables were designed to carry DATA, not power. Running a 12W computer off PoE with any kind of distance to the power providing hub is going to require about 20W of input to make it work - with the 8W difference going to heat the cables.

With all the concern over the leakage current of wall warts, this is an improvement?

Consider the history of bad decisions like this:

• "Power Points" in cars. Lighter sockets were designed for lighters, not laptops. They have poor mechanical retention (because the lighter needs to be able to pop out when hot), high contact resistance (so what if the contacts get hot? They are SUPPOSED to get hot!), and a really nasty failure mode (Lil' Billy dropping a penny in them while he waits for mommy to get out of the store). But rather than defining a sensible power connection, the automobile industry lazily continue to push lighter sockets as a power point.
  
• USB port powered devices which provide no USB functionality. USB Humidifiers? Cup Warmers? Christmat trees? Ash trays? Cell phone chargers? USB was designed to allow your computer to *control* things, not act as a glorified wall-wart!
  

Now we have this stupid idea. "But Ethernet is standard world-wide, and power jacks aren't!"

So? How about coming up with a standard power/data services jack and deploying it? It's not like Ethernet jacks were a natural phenominon - they were a standard which was created and deployed.

A nice standard power/data jack, with a standardized supply voltage high enough to move a reasonable amount of power through reasonably sized wires, and a data services jack designed to *move data* would be so much nicer in the end.

Also, consider this: You have your plant with a bunch of these PoE computer terminals, each tapping power from your central hub. Each computer will inject a small amount of noise onto the line - that's just a fact of life. How much will that noise start to degrade the network signal - especially when you start talking about gigabit Ethernet?

What if we just standardize on, say, a pair of Anderson Power Pole connectors supplying 24VDC at 2A max, right under a standard RJ-45 Ethernet jack. Devices which want to pull power and data have a combined plug which mates to both sets of connectors, standard Ethernet devices use the top port only. Standardize on using 14 gauge wire for power.

Now you have a sensible standard power port that can be used internationally, still requires the user to just plug one thing in, and isn't a kludge!

(O.T. What is with /. suddenly deciding to replace </li> elements with </li><li> ? It screws up making proper HTML lists!)