[lenary]

this is not quite what it makes out to be. of course at one level you only need an ethernet cord, but at some level you need to supply power to the cord itself. That power requires a power cable + PoE box if done close to the monitor, or you can buy a rack PoE unit and do it further away, which will have a limit on how far away from the unit you can be.

PoE units are useful when having only one cable enter the housing for waterproofing issues. otherwise, why go to all the hassle?

[roel_v]

In environments like hospitals, needing only one cable and one jack, I think this is a major advantage. Techs only need to unplug/plug one cable, there is less cable to get cluttered up, you only need half the amount of different types of cables in stock (no more different power and comms cables), ...

When renovating a section of a building, you only need to put in one new jack; that's half the cost saved, because you only need one guy running cable, not two (often different companies run electricity and network cables). So it's a major saving in installation costs.

[cturner]

If you wanted to be able to mount one monitor or several on a flexible arms so you can drag it around a room, it would be good to reduce cable clutter. This is a project I've been thinking for my space.