Inside a #PoE cable are four twisted pairs, eight in total. Both PoE (IEEE 802.3af) and PoE+ (802.3at) use two pairs to transmit data and two to transmit power. PoE++ (IEEE 802.3bt) taps into all four twisted pairs for both data and power, allowing them to transmit power at higher wattages.
The first generation of the PoE standard, aptly named PoE, can supply up to 12.95 W to devices with #voltages ranging from 37–57 V. At the time of its release (2013), this standard gave designers some headroom for low-powered designs but was quickly upgraded to the PoE+ standard to provide more #power.