Communications vendor Siemens will launch its 802.11n HiPath Wi-Fi technology in the UK today.

A late entrant to the market, Siemens hopes to differentiate itself from competing vendors through the ability of its 802.11n access points (APs) to work with the same 802.3af Power over Ethernet (PoE) systems that many firms already use to power older 802.11a/b/g APs.

Siemens vice-president of wireless, Luc Roy, said that many firms were not deploying 802.11n wireless capability “because the PoE part of the rollout was too expensive”. He said firms looking to deploy rival 802.11n APs that cannot use current 802.3af PoE switches would have to move to network kit complying with the new PoE standard, 802.3at.

Draft IEEE 802.3at PoE switches could easily provide twice the power of 802.3af kit, but at greater cost.