Seven smart building manufacturers announced that they are joining forces to bring more attention to the value of Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) lighting and technology. The companies are collaborating to create an industry organization known as the PoE Consortium.
The partner firms stated collective mission is "to educate stakeholders on the sustainable benefits of PoE over traditional high-voltage electrical infrastructure," while also highlighting the key strategic value of the organization -- i.e. more interoperability for the advancing smart building.
According to a press releae, the founding members of the PoE Consortium are:
- Igor, specializing in enterprise smart building infrastructure, software and online services
- GENISYS PoE, a PoE lighting system manufactured by Innovative Lighting
- Mecho, a leader in the commercial shading industry
- MHT, a PoE-based smart building lighting, technology, and software controls company
- Platformatics, specializing in data collection and storage for complex building systems
- PoE Texas, delivering PoE enabled amenities and building automation
- Sinclair Digital Services, a design and implementation firm with a focus on DC microgrids, battery energy storage systems and associated Software Platforms.
MHT Lighting chief marketing officer Kim Johnson captured the idea for the PoE Consortium, which she said was sparked inside a group discussion about developing a joint white paper.
“What began as a small project expanded quickly," said Johnson. "Right away, we recognized the untapped strength of bringing together different viewpoints, perspectives and areas of expertise. It’s not hyperbolic to say that PoE is a game-changer. We all agree more decision makers need to know the technology exists, they can integrate it right now and it has a proven history of transformation.”
Tyler Andrews, CEO of PoE Texas, explained why he sees value in the PoE Consortium. “As soon as Kim proposed the idea of a consortium to the group, all of us immediately saw the potential of working together to provide a joint space for resources, interoperability and expertise on PoE," said Andrews. "The end users and installers will benefit most from this group coming together to provide the best information possible to anyone interested in PoE.”
The PoE Consortium maintains an online hub of resources for education and training at poeconsortium.com.
The partners said this core of industry expertise enables stakeholders to install PoE technology and "to feel confident in their decision to take advantage of the sustainability, savings and advanced amenities PoE technology offers."
The partners' statement added that the PoE Consortium site features explainer articles, project calculators and case studies, and soon will include training and qualification courses for installers and integrators to ensure the quality of PoE-enabled projects.
