Why you need to apply the Goldilocks principle when it comes to PoE budgets

The Goldilocks principle, as I’m sure you know, is a simple way of describing why you need to get it ‘just right’ and why other options that are ‘too cold’ or ‘too hot’ just won’t do. This can certainly be applied when it comes to selecting a PoE switch. What you need is a switch that will give you just enough power to drive all the devices that you’ll need to connect to the switch for PoE.

Having one that has too low a budget will obviously be no good, as you won’t be able to run everything you want to run. Buying a switch that has too much PoE power available will be a waste of resource (and possible power as well) and means that you’ll be spending more for functionality you don’t really need.

This is why, before you make a purchasing decision, you need to look in detail at the devices you plan to power with PoE on the switch and what kind of PoE they will draw. You then need to make sure that the switch has a sufficient PoE power rating to drive those devices (as well as providing enough throughput to prevent bottlenecks) and that the overall power budget is sufficient to meet the total power draw that you are likely to need at any one time.

It's not too difficult to do this, but it’s important to get it right, or you could end up buying a switch that will either give you too little PoE, or too much. There will, however, be a Zyxel Networks switch that will give you exactly the right amount of power. If you need help in establishing how much PoE power you need and calculating the total PoE budget requirement, please get in touch with one of our partners or contact Zyxel Networks directly.