Ethernet Switch Considerations

All Lync Phone Edition devices have two important features that have an impact on the choice of Ethernet switch: LLDP-MED and PoE (Power over Ethernet). To leverage these features, the connected Ethernet switch ports must support these same features. Specifically, LLDP-MED requires support for the IEEE802.1AB and ANSI/TIA-1057 standards. To utilize PoE, the switch ports must support one of two PoE standards, either 802.3AF or 802.3at.

The configuration of LLDP-MED is specific to the Ethernet switch model. Often, this feature needs to be enabled globally within the switch, and typically the voice VLAN must be specified for use with LLDP-MED within the switch configuration.