Introduction to Ethernet
Ethernet is a local area network communication standard and data link layer technology that was originally developed by the Xerox in the 1970s. Original Ethernet was operated at 3Mbps and now they are operated up to 10Gbps. It creates a communication system in the network computers to share the data and resources such as printers, scanners, CD/DVD, internet access and the server’s hard disk. By default Ethernet communication protocols such as TCP/IP are embedded in the Windows based operating systems to provide the communications on the local area network.
In the LAN communication, the communication protocols, software, cables and hardware (LAN card, hub, and switch) is designed according to the Ethernet standards. The LANs are operated by using the variety of the communication mediums such as UTP/STP, coaxial cable and the fiber optic cable. The higher level network protocols such as IP (Internet Protocol) use the Ethernet as their communication medium.
Types of Ethernet
The following are the most common types of the Ethernet.
- Ethernet
10-Base2 (Thinnet. It covers the 200 meters distance over the coaxial cable.)
10-Base5 (Thicknet. It covers the 500 meters distance over the coaxial cable.)
10-BaseT (UTP. It covers the 100 meters distance over the UTP cable.)
10-BaseFL (Fiber optic. It covers the 2 KM distance over the multimode fiber.)
- Fast Ethernet
100-Base-TX (It covers the 100 meter distance over the UTP cable.
100-Base-FX (It covers the distance from 2000 meters over the fiber optic cable.)
- Gigabyte Ethernet
1000Base-SX (It covers the 300 meter distance over the fiber optics)
1000Base-LX (It covers the 550 meter over MM fiber and 3000 meters over SM fiber)
Ethernet is also used in the WLAN (Wireless LANs). Every network computer requires a LAN card and the every LAN card in the Ethernet networks must support the Ethernet standards. Ethernet uses an algorithm known as CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection), which allows each network node to communicate with each other.
CSMA/CD technology prevents the two computers to communicate at the same time. Today there is a latest Ethernet version which supports the fiber optic links speed from 40Gbps to 100Gbps. Ethernet is standardized as IEEE 802.3.
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