The basic principle of PoE is power over ethernet. The power supply sends electric current over the same cable as the data transmission.

802.3af is the most common PoE standard in use today, this standard provides up to 12 watts of power for each port and up to 54 milliwatts per device.

802.3at is a newer PoE standard that provides more than 3 times more electric current than 802.3af, but it’s not as widely adopted yet because of incompatibility with existing hardware and network equipment.

802.3bt is another newer PoE standard that offers even higher efficiency with its support for 160 watt per port (using two cables) and its support for up to 2KW per device, while being backward compatible with 802.3af and

POE is a power supply for a surveillance IP camera, which allows you to use an existing Ethernet cable to transmit power, instead of using and electric outlet.

If you have POE capability on your IP Camera, then all you need is an Ethernet Cable and POE Adapter (The adapter should be compatible with the power supply plug type on your IP Camera). Simply connect the POE adapter to your network switch first, then connect the other end of the Ethernet cable to the adapter.