Cisco: UPOE Creates New Channel Revenue Streams

Cisco said this week that its Universal Power Over Ethernet solution, the networking giant’s next-gen PoE offering, is arming channel partners with new revenue streams, especially within client sites already relying on the company’s Catalyst 4500E switches.

Pradeep Parmar, senior marketing manager of Borderless Networks at Cisco, explained at a media roundtable event this week that UPOE, which is offered through Cisco’s Catalyst 4500E switches platform, has the ability to deliver up to 60 watts per port. By doubling the wattage-per-port delivered with the company’s traditional PoE offering, UPOE enables partners and end clients to power a wider range of devices over a single network.

Beyond IP phone and wireless access points, UPOE-enabled environments can support virtual desktop infrastructures (VDI), building management systems, compact switches, IP turrets for financial trading floors, and personal telepresence systems, Parmar said during the call.

[Related: Channel Consensus: Cisco Has Turned The Corner ]

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As a result, Parmar explained, solution providers have an opportunity to incorporate a wider portfolio of devices into an existing client’s network, and grow revenue streams as a result.

"Our partners are excited about this opportunity because they can leverage their existing relationships or existing deployments to go start new conversations around VDI, around financial trading and around building management, for example," Parmar said.

Several of Cisco’s OEM partners have designed new products based on its UPOE offering. Samsung, for instance, is gearing up to launch next month a UPOE-based version of its 22-inch NC220 monitor for virtual desktops.

NEXT: How Partners Can Leverage Cisco’s UPOE

The next-gen monitor, which Samsung has dubbed the NC200P, will leverage Cisco’s UPOE solution to minimize downtime and the risk of work being lost due to unstable power supplies. Advanced power management capabilities and simplified cabling will also be delivered with the new device, explained Joe Angelo, a business development manager at Samsung.

"You have one Ethernet connection coming in, and you do take advantage of all the power management capabilities that Cisco provides within the UPOE or the Catalyst 4500E chassis and switches," Angelo said of the new UPOE-based NC200P monitor. "So that’s the biggest advantage, it’s really around our packaging of the all-in-one."

Angelo said that sales of Samsung’s original NC200, which is already on the market today, have increased 84 percent year-over-year. The device, like most of Samsung’s virtual desktop products, has especially seen growth in vertical markets including education, healthcare, and the federal government.

Like Cisco's Parmar, Angelo said Samsung resellers face an opportunity to grow profit margins with the help of UPOE.

"For us at Samsung, working with our reseller partners… it really does open up new conversations around incremental revenue streams where resellers can go in and talk about what is new, and where desktop virtualization is going, and where UPOE technology is going," Angelo said in the call. ’It opens up a lot more conversations rather than, 'Hey can I sell you a switch?' or 'Hey can I sell you a printer?'"

Parmar said UPOE has reached an annualized run rate of 1 million ports since its initial launch last year. He also emphasized the solution’s integration with Cisco’s EnergyWise offering, which allows an organization to monitor and control the power consumption of its devices, and said benefits include simplified network infrastructures and reduced energy costs.

Parmar said UPOE, coupled with EnergyWise, can save Cisco customers up to $128 per port, over a five-year period.