Bob Metcalfe of the Xerox Corporation developed the first experimental Ethernet system in late 1972. The goal of the Ethernet was to interconnect the Xerox Alto Aloha Network. The experimental Ethernet was used to link Altos workstations, servers, and laser printers. Data transmission of the Ethernet was 2.94 Mbps.
In 1973, Metcalfe changed the name to "Ethernet," to make it clear that the system could support any computer, and not just Altos, and to point out that his new network mechanisms had evolved well beyond the Aloha system. He chose to base the name on the word "ether" as a way of describing an essential feature of the system. The physical medium (cable) carries bits to all stations, much the same way that the old "luminiferous ether" was once thought to propagate electromagnetic waves through space.
The Ethernet is a LAN (Local Area Network) technology that uses a shared bus topology, and Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection access. It consists of a......
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