Ixia says the world's first Power over Ethernet (PoE) test solution for validating power-enabled equipment was successfully implemented by participating members at a recent PoE Consortium Event hosted by the University of New Hampshire’s InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL).
Ixia says the world’s first Power over Ethernet (PoE) test solution for validating power-enabled equipment was successfully implemented by participating members at a recent PoE Consortium Event hosted by the University of New Hampshire’s InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL). Ixia is a global provider of IP network testing solutions.
The PoE Consortium tests PoE (IEEE802.3af) products and software from an interoperability and conformance perspective. Ixia’s PoE products also conform to the IEEE 802.aef standard.
Ixia provided an integrated PoE and traffic generation test bed, as well as complete on-site support, and measured several key metrics to examine power-loading response and data integrity for the participating vendors. Ixia’s new PLM1000T4-PD was used in the test to emulate the loading characteristics of real-world PoE devices under software control. Companies participating in the PoE Consortium event included Linear Technology Corp., Matsushita Electric Works Ltd., PowerDsine, Red Hawk/CDT, Texas Instruments; and Transition Networks.
“Interoperability events such as this are organized for verifying compliance and promoting the overall standard, an offshoot of which is often an improved time-to-market cycle for the individual participants,” says Gerard Nadeau, PoE Consortium’s manager at UNH-IOL. “Ixia is the only test vendor that provided us with an integrated solution to test for and correlate data and power load against PoE-enabled switches and systems.”
By eliminating the need for external ac power, PoE’s applications include powering wireless LAN access points, IP phone handsets, security cameras, point-of-sale systems, and other powered devices (PD). Each Ixia PoE test module is capable of emulating four independent and isolated PDs with up to 20 W dissipated per PoE port. Each PoE port can simulate a range of valid or invalid signatures during detection, classification, or maintenance of power.
“Our unique PoE testing solution is capable of verifying the various PoE metrics of enabled devices, while providing a traffic generation environment unencumbered by the testing for the various power statistics,” says Dean Lee, Ixia’s PoE product manager. “Ixia is committed to providing leading edge test solutions at Interoperability events such as the event held by the PoE Consortium.”
—Jim Montague, news editor, Control Engineering, [email protected]
