Ethernet Technology-Learn More

Ethernet is the earliest yet still the largest form of technology being used for networking. Ethernet's existence began when PARC or Palo Alto Research Center Inc. (then known as XEROX PARC) thought about creating a coaxial cable connection system that comprises of various computers and technological devices.

In 1976, three years after the project was conceived, a draft version was tested. With an astonishing data transmission rate of 3 megabytes (3 million bytes) every second, and a fixed fortunate conjunction of two computers, the once just a proposition became an ideal venture.

The name Ethernet came from the combination of words Ether and Net. Ether, meaning "light-bearing", stands for the use of light as a means of data carrying medium. Net is an abbreviation for network, the community of link computers. LANs or Local Area Networks sprouted as a product of Ethernet fruitfully achieving its destined course of associating two or more computers.

Ethernet functions by attaching cables to the needed devices and computers. These cables don't directly connect computers to each other, instead they lead to a connector. Connectors come in different forms such as Switches, Hub and Repeaters. Connectors, such as the three, are grouped according to how they do their role in the system. Ethernet basically works by chain reactions.

Firstly, a computer will summon a signal where it embeds a message. The signal is transported from its source to the connector by cable wirings, then from the connector it is relayed to the appointed computer. The recipient computer will then send its own signal that would undergo the same process in order to validate the message or to create another series of reaction.

In a standard network, all connected computers have exactly the same boundaries. But with complicated networks, such as those in advanced working environments, only chosen computers have unlimited authority.

In the present, the Ethernet technology is available in many versions. The "original" ones are the 10BASE5 (most original of all), the 10BROAD36 (original in terms of long-distance coverage), 10BASE2 (original in using thin cables) and the 1BASE5 (originally a failure, but became a strong basis for future Ethernet technology versions).

The more modernized generation of the technology came with different speed performances. The 10 megabit Ethernet was the first to step out of the previous 1Mbit/second rating. Not too long afterward, the 100 Megabit Ethernet (a.k.a. Fast Ethernet) came into action, surpassing its ancestor ten times more.

And from megabytes, the technology moved into gigabytes with the creation of the Gigabit Ethernet having 1Gbit per second speed. From 1 gygabyte per second, the revolution moved to ten times more gigabytes for every second of data flow with the new 10Gbit. And now, versions of 40 Gigabit and 100 Gigabit Ethernet are in the final processes of being made.

It is hard to imagine where we would be now without the presence of networking technologies such as the Ethernet. Everything would be troublesome as all normal day-to-day activities will have to be done by hands. And so, we would always have to be thankful that Ethernet was formalized and born into our world.