Phihong has designed its midspans to have “plug and play” technology meaning that they are ready to use right out of the box with no firmware or software requirements. Users do not need a midspan, as there are PoE enabled switches, but they often run into the several thousands of dollars and are not always necessary unless the existing switch is no longer usable. Midspans are compatible with existing switches in turn lowering the cost of upgrading networks.