Powering patch panel system

A patch panel Information Handling System (IHS), comprising:

• a chassis;
• a plurality of patch panel ports that are provided on the chassis and that are each connected directly to one of a plurality of networking devices or one of a plurality of powered devices via a respective cable;
• a plurality of networking processors that are housed in the chassis, wherein each of the plurality of networking processors is coupled to a respective subset of the plurality of patch panel ports;
• a plurality of Power over Ethernet (PoE) processors that are housed in the chassis, wherein each of the plurality of PoE processors is coupled to a respective subset of the plurality of patch panel ports;
• a respective networking memory device housed in the chassis, coupled to each of the plurality of networking processors, and including instructions that, when executed by each of the plurality of networking processors, cause each of the plurality of networking processors to provide a networking engine;
• and
• a respective PoE memory device housed in the chassis, coupled to each of the plurality of PoE processors, and including instructions that, when executed by the plurality of PoE processors, cause each of the PoE processors to provide a PoE engine,
• wherein each of the PoE engines is configured to:
• perform, with each of the plurality of powered devices coupled to that PoE engine via one of the plurality of patch panel ports PoE operations to negotiate a power amount that will be provided to each of the plurality of powered devices;
• wherein each of the networking engines is configured to:
• receive, from each of the plurality of networking devices coupled to that networking engine by one of the plurality of patch panel ports and via networking operations performed by that networking engine, data that is directed to the plurality of powered devices;
• wherein each of the PoE engines is configured to:
• receive, from a power source, power;
• and
• wherein each of a plurality of networking engine/POE engine combinations is configured to:
• transmit, to each of the plurality of powered devices coupled to that networking engine/PoE engine combination by one of the plurality of patch panel ports and via the networking operations performed by the networking engine in that networking engine/PoE engine combination and the PoE operations performed by the PoE engine in that networking engine/PoE combination, both the data and a subset of the power that provides the power amount that was negotiated for each of those powered devices.

A method for powering devices via a patch panel, comprising:

• performing, by a plurality of PoE controllers that are each housed in a chassis and coupled to a respective subset of a plurality of patch panel ports that are each provided on the chassis and that are each connected directly to a respective one of a plurality of networking devices or a plurality of powered devices by a respective cable, PoE operations to negotiate a power amount that will be provided to each of the plurality of powered devices;
• receiving, from each of the plurality of networking devices via Network Processing Units (NPU) operations performed by a respective NPU that is housed in the chassis and coupled to that networking device by a respective one of the plurality of patch panel ports, data that is directed to the plurality of powered devices;
• receiving, by each of the plurality of PoE controllers from a power source, power;
• and
• transmitting, to each of the plurality of powered devices via the NPU operations performed by the NPU and the PoE operations performed by PoE controller coupled to that powered device by one of the plurality of patch panel ports, both the data and a subset of the power that provides the power amount that was negotiated for each of those powered devices.