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Ethernet is the most widely-installed local area network (LAN) technology. Ethernet is a specific standard of network communication. It was originally developed by Xerox from an earlier specification called Alohanet (for the Palo Alto Research Center Aloha network) and then developed further by Xerox, DEC, and Intel.
An Ethernet LAN typically uses twisted pair wires. Ethernet is also used in wireless LANs.
A newer standard, Fast Ethernet, provides transmission speeds up to 100 megabits per second. Gigabit Ethernet provides an even higher level of speed at 1000 megabits per second (1 gigabit or 1 billion bits per second). 10-Gigabit Ethernet provides up to 10 billion bits per second.
Ethernet was named by Robert Metcalfe, one of its developers, for the passive substance called "luminiferous (light-transmitting) ether" that was once thought to pervade the universe, carrying light throughout. Ethernet was so-named to describe the way that cabling, also a passive medium, could similarly carry data everywhere throughout the network. |
