HOD HASHARON, Israel and FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- PowerDsine®, the leading provider of Power over Ethernet (PoE) technology, today announced the approval by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) of standard 802.3af-2003, which defines the specifications to deliver power over standard Ethernet cables. PowerDsine has been a major contributor to the 802.3af Task Force, and participated in the Call for Interest in the 802.3 Working Group in 1999.

The standard was approved by the IEEE Standards Board on June 12, 2003, and will be published on or before July 11, 2003, as "802.3af-2003." PowerDsine, who has played a significant role in the creation of the standard, has also pioneered a service to Ethernet device manufacturers and switch vendors to test conformance with the provisional standard. To date, over one hundred terminal devices have been compliance tested by PowerDsine, including most of the leading Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phones, wireless LAN access points and security cameras.

"The 802.3af standard will provide the first global standard for power," stated Steve Carlson, Chair of the 802.3af Task Force, "Thousands of new and innovative products will emerge to take advantage of having the proven robustness and reliability of Ethernet along with power on the same connector. In ten years no one will be able to remember when Ethernet ports didn't supply power."

Richard Webb, Market Analyst for Infonetics Research, commented: "The 802.3af standard provides a stable basis from which vendors can continue to reduce the cost of installing and upgrading network devices; this can be a hidden cost in the deployment and scaling-up of wireless LANs and VoIP in particular, and so improves the investment case for both these technologies. PowerDsine's strong contribution to this standard shows them to be the key innovator in the Power over Ethernet field."

"The standard ratification will add extra impetus to the current trend amongst silicon vendors to design chipsets for laptops and portables that require low power consumption below the 12.95W prescribed in the Power over Ethernet standard," said Amir Lehr, vice president, business development and strategic planning at PowerDsine. "As these devices become less power-hungry and Power over Ethernet becomes the standard in most corporate IT environments there will no longer be a need for business people to carry a variety of different plugs when traveling. Instead the RJ45 jack will become the universal power jack. I confidently predict that in the next five years more than 75% of enterprise network devices will be able to be powered by Ethernet..."

Power over Ethernet is already widely adopted in the market, particularly in the VoIP, wireless LAN and IP Security market where it saves up to 50% of the overall installation costs by eliminating the need to install separate electrical wiring and power outlets. Its other major advantage, particularly for IP telephony and surveillance camera users, is the ability to offer continuous operation even in the event of a power failure by delivering battery-backed-up uninterrupted power via the local area network (LAN).

Power over Ethernet has been widely deployed in two formats either as endspan devices, i.e. embedded into switches, or as stand-alone midspan hubs from companies such as PowerDsine, allowing terminal devices to be power-enabled without upgrading the existing switches. The new standard will cover both categories of Power over Ethernet technology.

Yair Darshan, chief engineer at PowerDsine adds, "A great deal of attention, analysis and field tests were invested in the standard in regard to system design aspects to ensure reliable and robust operation of the system functions. This was the base of this technology which boasts business benefits that have already seen widespread deployment. The standard ratification provides extra momentum as it provides companies with investment protection in the knowledge that they won't be tied into any one vendor. It's also likely to be a spur to exciting new product innovations."

PowerDsine Ltd.