I'm looking at getting a kvm-over-ip setup for a server room. Typically these devices have 16 or so cat5 leads that come out of them and then a convertor that converts each cat5 into a vga & ps2 pair.

Can you run one cable from the unit into a switch, and then leads from the switch into each machine ? I have several machines on the other side of the server room that i'd like to have avaliable but i dont want to run 16 cables to them. I'm thinking this should be possible being IP layer and all, but as each device normally has its own cable out the back of the kvm unit i'm not certain.

Perhaps the kvm's rear ports act essentially like a switch anyway in which case it should work, or perhaps if i run all 16 cables into a seperate switch right next to it and aggregate the ports together, run one cable to a switch on the other side of the room with similar number of ports agregated together, then use that switch to plug each macine into ?

I'm fairly sure this is possible, but i just want to check before i shell out the cash as i've never tried it.