The Relevance of Power Over Ethernet (PoE) Technology in Video Production

The Rise & Meaning of POE

To really appreciate the overarching relevance of some technologies, we really need to travel back in time to see how life was and how people fared before the advent of such technologies. 

It’s pretty easy to get too familiar with the significance of certain inventions but this simple ‘back-in-time’ exercise will always help us see that certain technologies have literally taken away a thousand headaches and a million sighs.

The ‘coming of age’ (development, invention and market access) of Power Over Ethernet Technology spanned across the period of circa 1997 to the early 2020s. Before the advent of the Power Over Ethernet Technology, it was quite cumbersome, expensive and time-consuming to run two cables (one for power, and the other for data) to multiple cameras. Doing this with a single camera was all easy-peasy but for 4 Cameras, 8 or say 48 Cameras, things could get really difficult.

So what is POE and how did it address this problem statement?

Power Over Ethernet is the process of using wires already built into an Ethernet cable to run electricity in addition to network data. The PoE sufficiently allows Ethernet cables to transmit data and power simultaneously using a single network.

The Relevance of PoE

So the question is, ‘has anything gotten significantly better since the advent of Power Over Internet Technology?’, and the honest answer to this is a resounding yes. While PoE is not necessarily the “ultimate messiah” (just as no technology is), it offers a wide range of applications and benefits, some of which are listed below;

1. Ease of Powering Digital Video and Audio Devices:

It is quite very difficult for technical engineers to install a facility’s power cords, HDMI cables and control cables if cameras are installed in a place that is difficult to access. However, thanks to the PoE as an easy-accessible network which makes these complicated tasks more manageable. Also, with PoE, devices such as IP cameras and wireless access points can be located or ‘relocated’ where they are needed the most since they are not being tethered to an electrical outlet.

In addition to the fact the PoEs can power Video Cameras, they also offer the transmission of the cameras’ control signals, tally lights simultaneously enabling the compression of video and audio signals into a highly low-latency composite signal over a single network cable.

• Time & Cost Management

Another advantage of the PoE is that Network cables do not require qualified electricians to fit them and they can be located anywhere. This significantly reduces the time and expense required to have electrical power cabling installed.

The PoE technology can transmit power via a single network bypassing the need for a power supply when installing terminal devices. Likewise, the PoE workflow requires fewer power cords than the old-fashioned workflow thereby saving time, labour and maintenance costs of the installation by using a network cable.

• Safety

When it comes to the safety afforded by PoE Technology, Chad Jones the technical leader, Enterprise Switching Group, Cisco Systems had this to say; ‘Everything needs power, PoE is an evolution as power is transmitted through Ethernet cable alongside data. It’s also a safe technology topping out at least 57V (port voltage). If it were to overheat, it’s not a fire hazard, the cable function simply degrades’. We must appreciate the fact that the PoE system is intelligent and well designed to protect network equipment from underpowering, overload or incorrect installation.

• Reliability

Another relevance of PoE Technology worth mentioning is that it offers reliability because it comes from a central and universally compatible source rather than a collection of distributed wall adapters. Notable is also the fact that that it can be backed up by an uninterruptible power supply.

• Data Speed

PoE technology can deliver at 1 gigabit per second (Gbps)-10/11/1,000 megabits per second-using the Cat5 and Cat6 cables. Moreso, the IEEE 802.3bz PoE standard delivers speeds of 2.5 Gbps to 5Gbps over 100 meters (m)