[Tfug] PoE supplies/injectors

[Bexley Hall]

Hi Jon,

> > Stated another way, if you were installing network infrastructure
> > *today*, what criteria would you use to determine whether to
> > use PoE+nonPoE switches vs. all PoE switches vs. nonPoE switch
> > with midpoint injectors, etc.?  (given that you would likely
> > plan for "tomorrow")
> 
> Cost. If it's not your money then cost is the *only*
> criteria the client cares about. Unfortunate but true :)

Of course!  But there are "tomorrow costs" as well.

I.e., there is a point at which the premium for a feature falls
below the threshold of pain.  I.e., I suspect nowadays it just
doesn't make much sense to buy a 100Mb switch when you can
get Gb switches for roughly the same money (in the grand
scheme of things).  I.e., the premium for 10X speed just doesn't
look that big compared to the cost of the rest of the network
infrastructure.

Likewise, there is a cost with maintaining two different types
of switches instead of N copies of a single switch.  In a VoIP
installation, I would imagine you have roughly as many phone
drops as data drops; and, if the phones have a built-in switch
to support a data drop daisy-chained off the phone, then the
only nonPoE switches would be those located "where phones
weren't present".

Granted, lots of hand-waving here.  But, the point I am trying to
get at is where that "threshold of pain" is located and how
soon it will be before The Market decides that it just doesn't
make sense to be buying nonPoE switches...