Ethernet Technology
Ethernet is the earliest yet still the largest form of technology being used for networking. The concept of Ethernet was formed when Xerox PARC, now known simply as PARC or Palo Alto Research Center Incorporated, proposed to develop a form of system that would allow computers and devices to be connected with one another via the use of coaxial cables.
In 1976, three years after the project was conceived, a draft version was tested. It was announced successful not only because a connection between two computers were made, but also because data transfer fruitfully took place with the speed of 3 megabytes per second.
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. Ethernet was the reason LAN (Local Area Network) came to be, because it materialized the possibility of computers being interconnected with each other.
Ethernet works by linking computers and other devices through cables. One end of these cables is connected to the computer, and the other is to a connector. Connectors come in different forms such as Switches, Hub and Repeaters.
These connectors are classified depending on their performance in terms of data relaying. Ethernet basically works by chain reactions. One computer generates and sends a signal of its desired action. This signal passes through the cables, and then through the connector, then to cables again and finally to their designated receiving computer.
The receptor will also generate another signal to send back to the original sender either simply to confirm or to trigger another action. In simple networks, all linked computers are equal in terms of their allowance. But in more complex and larger networks, there are usually one or two computers that are in control of the interactions of the entire network.
Presently, there are different variants of the Ethernet technology that are available. The earliest ones are the 10BASE5 (the very first standard), 10BROAD36 (the first standard that allowed long-distance connections), 10BASE2 (also known as the Cheapernet) and 1BASE5 (said to be a failure but started the following developments in Ethernet technology). The latest standards that were published came from the newer and more improved speed ratings.
The 10 megabit Ethernet was the first to step out of the previous 1Mbit/second rating. Following was the 100 megabit Ethernet or the Fast Ethernet, named accordingly because of its ten times performance efficacy. And then the Gigabit Ethernet was born, priding itself with an even more edgy speed of 1 gigabyte per second data transmission.
The Gigabit Ethernet soon opened doors for the 10 Gigabit Ethernet, the variant that surpassed its already-powerful precedent. 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. Normal transactions would be conducted in manual ways, and thus, everything will be definitely inconvenient. And so, we would always have to be thankful that Ethernet was formulized and born into our world.
