He (or she) who VoIPs with the most power ports wins

Although I hail from Portland, Oregon, today I am here to talk to you about other ports.

Those are the Ethernet and fiber ports on the back of Internet telephony back-up power switches.

One of the more robust such products is Zultys Technologies' Power-over-Ethernet Zultys EPS24, a switch with 24, 10/100 Ethernet ports and a 1 Gb/s fiber port. The device is sold separately, as well as in tandem with a -48 volt power supply such as the battery-operated Zultys BPS12.

Zultys says that a single BPS12 can provide backup power for five hours. The company is specifically targeting the tandem for smaller businesses who, in the words of Zultys product marketing VP Patrick Ferriter, don'twish to be "forced to make a compromise when needing telephony and security products that continue to operate when the power fails."

The solution doesn't sound like a space hog- a sensitive issue for many small offices. The EPS24 is one rack mounting unit (RU) (around 19 inches) high, and the BPS12 is around 3 RUs. The EPS24 is available separately for $1,500, but Zultys resellers are offering the switch in a package deal with the BPS12 for $2,600.