One switch. Everything on it.
Your security cameras, access control, and VoIP all run on the same PoE switch. That switch is eight years old. When it fails, you lose everything at once.
Most facilities we audit have converged their entire security and communications infrastructure onto aging network hardware that was never designed to carry this load. The PoE+ switch that seemed adequate in 2016 is now running 4K cameras drawing 30W each, advanced access control panels, and a full VoIP deployment. The power budget that worked for the original design is maxed out under current demand.
The failure isn't gradual. It's binary. One moment your building systems are operational. The next moment staff can't get through the front door, security has no camera coverage, and nobody can reach anyone on the internal phone system. All from a single hardware failure.
How converged infrastructure becomes a single point of failure
The problem isn't convergence itself — running building systems over IP is efficient and cost-effective when the infrastructure is designed for it. The problem is that most environments we walk into were never designed for what they're currently carrying. The convergence happened gradually: a camera system added here, an access control upgrade there, VoIP rolled out across the floor. Each addition made sense at the time. Nobody recalculated the PoE budget.
PoE budgets matter more than most IT teams realise. Type 1 (802.3af) delivers 15W. Type 2 (802.3bt) delivers 30W. Type 3 delivers 60W and Type 4 delivers 100W — and both draw on all four cable pairs. On longer runs, resistance starts eating into available power in ways that pass every cable test but fail under real load. A PTZ camera that tests clean at installation starts dropping frames six months later when the switch is under full load and the cable run is at the edge of its power delivery spec.
What a hardware review actually covers
Most organisations audit their cabling. Few audit the active hardware that powers it. A switch that was installed eight years ago against a design that no longer reflects current load is a liability — not an asset. The question isn't whether it's still running. It's whether it's running what you've put on it.
A Layer 1 audit covers both. Cabling certification tells you the physical medium is sound. Active hardware review tells you whether the switch powering your building systems has the budget, the redundancy, and the remaining service life to carry what's currently on it.
Devices drawing more than the switch was rated for. Intermittent failures that pass every cable test because the cable isn't the problem.
A single switch failure takes down cameras, access control, and phones simultaneously. No failover. No warning.
Hardware running past its rated service life with no replacement plan. The failure date is unknown — but it's not a question of if.
Devices added over time with no recalculation of the PoE budget or review of the original design spec against current demand.
The cost nobody calculates
Has your organisation ever calculated the cost of losing building access, security monitoring, and communications simultaneously for four hours? Most haven't — until it happens.
The switch replacement cost is known and budgetable. The downtime cost — security incident response, access management, lost productivity, potential compliance exposure — is rarely calculated in advance. It's almost always larger than the hardware it could have prevented.
Eight years of load creep on a PoE budget that was never revisited is a real scenario. Not a hypothetical.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if my PoE switch is over budget?
Most switches report current PoE draw in the management interface — but many facilities teams don't have visibility into that data. A Layer 1 audit will calculate actual draw against rated budget for every device on the switch and flag any that are operating at risk margins, particularly on longer cable runs where resistance reduces effective power delivery.
What's the right way to design converged building infrastructure?
Separate PoE domains for separate system types, with redundant uplinks and a documented power budget that accounts for worst-case simultaneous draw. The design should be reviewed every time a new system is added — not just at initial installation.
Does AAA replace the hardware or just audit it?
Both. We identify the risk, document what's there, and can design and install the remediation. See our Layer 1 Network Audit and SD-WAN & LAN pages for full scope.
Is this covered under a standard cabling audit?
A cabling certification tests the physical medium only. It will not identify PoE budget overruns, hardware end-of-life risk, or convergence design gaps. A Layer 1 infrastructure audit covers both the passive and active layers.