Power over ethernet card with expanded power for power sourcing equipment

A method of operating a Power-Over-Ethernet (POE) card, the method comprising:

• receiving power for one or more POE capable devices at a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) edge connector from a power supply of a computing device;
• boosting a voltage of the received power for the one or more POE capable devices, wherein the voltage is boosted from a first voltage to a second voltage higher than the first voltage;
• delivering the power received from the computing device through the PCIe edge connector to the POE capable devices at the second voltage;
• providing data communication between the computing device and the POE capable devices;
• receiving power for the one or more POE capable devices at one or more PCIe pin connectors from the power supply of the computing device;
• combining power received from the power supply through the PCIe pin connector and power received from the power supply through the PCIe edge connector into a pool of power;
• and
• boosting the voltage of the pool of power from the first voltage to the second voltage,
• wherein a sum of the power received through the PCIe pin connector and the power received through the PCIe edge connector is greater than a maximum power of the PCIe pin connector.

A system comprising:

• one or more Power-Over-Ethernet (POE) capable devices;
• and
• a computing device comprising:
• a power supply;
• and
• a POE card, comprising:
• a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) edge connector coupled to a PCIe edge connector slot of a board to receive power from the power supply for the one or more POE capable devices;
• an Ethernet interface device having one or more Ethernet ports coupled to the one or more POE capable devices;
• a DC-DC converter configured to boost a voltage of the power for the one or more POE capable devices received through the PCIe edge connector from a first voltage to a second voltage higher than the first voltage;
• a POE controller coupled between the Ethernet interface device and the DC-DC converter and configured to control delivery of power from the PCIe edge connector at the second voltage to the POE capable devices;
• and
• a switch coupled to the Ethernet interface device to provide data communication between the computing device and the POE capable devices;
• at least one PCIe pin connector coupled to corresponding pin connectors of cables coupled to the power supply to receive power from the power supply;
• a power combining controller coupled to the PCIe edge connector and to the at least one PCIe pin connector and configured to combine power received from the power supply through the PCIe pin connector and through the PCIe edge connector into a pool of power;
• and
• wherein the DC-DC converter is coupled between the power combining controller and the POE controller and is configured to boost the voltage of the pool of power from the first voltage to the second voltage,
• wherein a sum of the power received through the PCIe pin connector and the power received through the PCIe edge connector is greater than a maximum power of the PCIe pin connector.