Ethernet Alliance screenshot
The UNH InterOperability Lab is one of the state’s tech-y (cliche alert!) hidden gems. It’s got a national, even international, reputation for testing equipment and helping develop standards, but aside from the occasional brilliantly written, insightful article in the general press we hear little about it – certainly less than, say, the university’s football field scoreboard.
So let’s acknowledge an interesting event coming up: The first testing event for the Ethernet Alliance Power over Ethernet (PoE) Certification Program. Testing results from this event can be used to apply for the PoE certification program, which will promote interoperability of products based on IEEE 802.3 specifications. Passing devices will be some of the first listed products in the Ethernet Alliance Certified Product Registry.
Power over Ethernet is a sort of extension of power over USB, which has made life among all our devices so much easier. It’s relatively new and still a mish-mosh of competing designs and standards – hence the push to tidy everything up. UNH-IOL being chosen to host the first such test is a big deal among a certain subset of the geek world.
It will be held during the week of October 2-6, at the lab on UNH’s main campus in Durham. You can learn more at the UNH-IOL website.
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