Network management Toolkit 
Story: Cisco develops own Power over Ethernet standard
Cisco should lead the march towards interoperability rather than away
It is interesting and saddening that Cisco has chosen to go proprietary for powering its "high" power devices, especially at a time, when many PoE vendors who had gone proprietary in their quest for higher power, are now returning back to the IEEE standards to ensure interoperability.
One of the key goals of the IEEE802.3af standard was to ensure interoperability between any two, standards compliant, devices.
For over a year, there have been open and inter-operable solutions available that provide up to 30 watts of power.
I am the CEO of Infomart, which was the first company, globally, to ship a high power PoE splitter under the brand name PoweredEthernet. To ensure interoperability, our PES40 splitters use the existing IEEE802.3af standard with the exception of higher input current limit of up to 720mA, which, by the way, is the current limit proposed for the upcoming IEEE802.3at standard.
There are quite a few POE injector manufacturers, some major players, like PowerDsine, Phihong, and Panduit, who have developed high power injectors which utilise the same concept of IEEE802.3af compliance, but with up to 720mA of current.
The models that I am aware of are PowerDsine PD7001G, Phihong POE30U, and Panduit DPOE.
When paired with these new generation high power single port or multi-port midspans our PES40 splitter delivers up to 30 watts of power.
Given the influence it wields in the Ethernet space, Cisco should be leading the march towards interoperability, rather than branching out on their own and negatively impacting it. Hopefully Cisco will gain from the lessons of others and return back to interoperability.
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