System powered from a local area network cable

A system comprising:

• a network controller;
• power source circuitry to provide power from a plurality of different sources that include a rechargeable primary system power unit, including some extracted from a local area network (LAN) cable attached to the system;
• and
• power control circuitry coupled to the power source circuitry and the network controller, to power the network controller from the attached LAN cable while the rest of the system is running off the rechargeable primary system power unit.

A system comprising:

• a memory;
• a processor coupled to the memory;
• a rechargeable power unit coupled to power the memory and processor as a primary power source;
• and
• a network interface to which a local area network (LAN) cable is to be attached, the processor being coupled to the network interface;
• power extraction circuitry to draw power from the LAN cable as an auxiliary power source;
• and
• power control circuitry coupled to the power extraction circuitry to feed the drawn power to power only the network interface of the system while the rest of the system is running off the rechargeable, power unit.

A system component, comprising:

• a network controller to send and receive packets via a LAN cable connector, the network controller having a management block;
• a power extraction circuit to extract power from the LAN cable connector;
• and
• power control circuitry to receive auxiliary power from the extraction circuit and primary power from an interface to a baseboard bus, and being coupled to power the management block with the received auxiliary power and the rest of the network controller with the received primary power.