PoE, or Power over Ethernet, has been a standard in the surveillance industry for as long as network cameras have circulated the market. In fact, it is so popular, that most camera manufactures supply network cameras PoE-ready. And not only cameras! IP access control, IP phones, IP sensors, network hubs, switches, wireless access points and other low voltage network devices - everything can be powered up with PoE using regular CAT5 cable. And new research in this field has shown that all high voltage devices will soon be able to use PoE as well.
What are the benefits? Aside from saving on cabling cost, having centralized intelligent power source can bring great flexibility and integrity to the surveillance system:

· shut down or reboot any camera remotely with network management tools.

· any device powered through the PoE mid-span is virtually power-outage-safe.

· camera placement is no longer reliant on power source locations.