Microsemi, Cisco mum on PoE patent agreement

Power over Ethernet giant Microsemi signed a patent transfer and licensing agreement with Cisco Systems and remains mum on the agreement's details.

In a statement announcing the agreement, Microsemi president and CEO James Peterson said he believes it "will facilitate proliferation of PoE technology by eliminating uncertainties that exist with respect to IP positioning." In this case, IP means intellectual property, not Internet Protocol.

I found no statement from Cisco addressing the agreement.

When PoE was in its initial stages of development, Cisco offered a proprietary solution that ultimately did not comply with the IEEE 802.3af specifications for PoE. Today the company offers a suite of standard-compliant products.

In the press release that contained Peterson's quote, Microsemi also stated its agreement with Cisco covers patents that are essential to the "af" and "at" (PoE and PoE Plus) specifications. A typographical error in the release incorrectly identifies the specs as IEEE 802.11af and 802.11at; they're actually IEEE 802.3af and 802.3at. But that's just me, living in a glass house and throwing stones.

My take on this announcement from Microsemi is simple. Perhaps incorrect, but simple: We won't be seeing a patent-infringement lawsuit between the two companies anytime soon.