Ethernet is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 1983 as IEEE 802.3. Ethernet has since been refined to support higher bit rates, a greater number of nodes, and longer link distances, but retains much backward compatibility. Over time, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies such as Token Ring, FDDI and ARCNET.
A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, school, laboratory, university campus or office building. By contrast, a wide area network (WAN) not only covers a larger geographic distance, but also generally involves leased telecommunication circuits.
100BaseVG is a 100 Mbit/s Ethernet standard specified to run over four pairs of Category 3 cable. It is also called 100VG-AnyLAN because it was defined to carry both Ethernet and Token Ring frame types.
Ethernet over twisted-pair technologies use twisted-pair cables for the physical layer of an Ethernet computer network. They are a subset of all Ethernet physical layers.
Network topology is the arrangement of the elements of a communication network. Network topology can be used to define or describe the arrangement of various types of telecommunication networks, including command and control radio networks, industrial fieldbusses and computer networks.
Category 5 cable (Cat 5) is a twisted pair cable for computer networks. Since 2001, the variant commonly in use is the Category 5e specification (Cat 5e). The cable standard provides performance of up to 100 MHz and is suitable for most varieties of Ethernet over twisted pair up to 2.5GBASE-T but more commonly runs at 1000BASE-T speeds. Cat 5 is also used to carry other signals such as telephone and video.
In computer networking, Fast Ethernet physical layers carry traffic at the nominal rate of 100 Mbit/s. The prior Ethernet speed was 10 Mbit/s. Of the Fast Ethernet physical layers, 100BASE-TX is by far the most common.
Attached Resource Computer NETwork is a communications protocol for local area networks. ARCNET was the first widely available networking system for microcomputers; it became popular in the 1980s for office automation tasks. It was later applied to embedded systems where certain features of the protocol are especially useful.
StarLAN was the first IEEE 802.3 standard for Ethernet over twisted pair wiring. It was standardized by the IEEE Standards Association as 802.3e in 1986, as the 1BASE5 version of Ethernet. The StarLAN Task Force was chaired by Bob Galin.
Ungermann-Bass, also known as UB and UB Networks, was a computer networking company in the 1980s to 1990s. Located in Santa Clara, California, UB was the first large networking company independent of any computer manufacturer. Along with competitors 3Com and Sytek, UB was responsible for starting the networking business in Silicon Valley in 1979. UB was founded by Ralph Ungermann and Charlie Bass. John Davidson, vice president of engineering, was one of the creators of NCP, the transport protocol of the ARPANET before TCP.
Bay Networks, Inc., was a network hardware vendor formed through the merger of Santa Clara, California, based SynOptics Communications and Billerica, Massachusetts based Wellfleet Communications on July 6, 1994. SynOptics was an important early innovator of Ethernet products, having developed a pre-standard twisted pair 10Mbit/s Ethernet product and a modular Ethernet hub product that dominated the enterprise networking market. Wellfleet was an important competitor to Cisco Systems in the router market, ultimately commanding up to a 20% market share of the network router business worldwide. The combined company was renamed Bay Networks as a nod to the legacy that SynOptics was based in the San Francisco area and Wellfleet was based in the Boston area, two cities well known for their bays.
LattisNet was a family of computer networking hardware and software products built and sold by SynOptics Communications during the 1980s. Examples were the 1000, 2500 and 3000 series of LattisHub network hubs. LattisNet was the first implementation of 10 Megabits per second local area networking over unshielded twisted pair wiring in a star topology.
An Ethernet hub, active hub, network hub, repeater hub, multiport repeater, or simply hub is a network hardware device for connecting multiple Ethernet devices together and making them act as a single network segment. It has multiple input/output (I/O) ports, in which a signal introduced at the input of any port appears at the output of every port except the original incoming. A hub works at the physical layer. A repeater hub also participates in collision detection, forwarding a jam signal to all ports if it detects a collision. In addition to standard 8P8C ("RJ45") ports, some hubs may also come with a BNC or an Attachment Unit Interface (AUI) connector to allow connection to legacy 10BASE2 or 10BASE5 network segments.
The physical-layer specifications of the Ethernet family of computer network standards are published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), which defines the electrical or optical properties and the transfer speed of the physical connection between a device and the network or between network devices. It is complemented by the MAC layer and the logical link layer. An implementation of a specific physical layer is commonly referred to as PHY.
Wellfleet Communications was an Internet router company founded in 1986 by Paul Severino, Bill Seifert, Steven Willis and David Rowe based in Bedford, Massachusetts, and later Billerica, Massachusetts. In an attempt to more effectively compete with Cisco Systems, its chief rival, it merged in October, 1994 with SynOptics Communications of Santa Clara, California to form Bay Networks in a deal worth US$ 2.7B. Bay Networks would in turn be acquired by Nortel in June, 1998 for US$ 9.1B.
Chipcom was an early pioneering company in the Ethernet hub industry. Their products allowed Local Networks to be aggregated in a single place instead of being distributed across the length of a single coaxial cable. They competed with now-gone companies such as Cabletron Systems, SynOptics, Ungermann-Bass, David Systems, Digital Equipment Corporation, and American Photonics, all of which were early entrants in the "LAN Hub" industry. Chipcom also was involved in Token Ring, FDDI, and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM).
The Nortel Discovery Protocol (NDP) is a data link layer network protocol for discovery of Nortel networking devices and certain products from Avaya and Ciena. The device and topology information may be graphically displayed network management software.
Ronald V. Schmidt was an American computer network engineer.
Andrew K. Ludwick is a co-founder of SynOptics and was the CEO and President of SynOptics Communications and CEO and President of Bay Networks from 1985-1996.
Asanté Technologies, Inc., was an American computer networking equipment manufacturer active between 1988 and 2005. Founded in Sunnyvale, California, the company was for a time the market leader in networking products for Apple's line of Macintosh computers, providing hubs, switches, routers, and other equipment. The computer also dabbled in the PC-compatible and enterprise networking markets. Following a period of declining market share and stagnation between 1998 and 2005, the company was acquired by rival TechnoConcepts in 2005.
