What is Ethernet ?
Ethernet, in computer science, a local area network developed by Xerox in 1976, originally for linking minicomputers at the Palo Alto Research Center. A widely implemented network from which the IEEE 802.3 standard for contention networks was developed, Ethernet uses a bus topology (configuration) and relies on the form of access known as CSMA/CD to regulate traffic on the main communication line. Network nodes are connected by coaxial cable (in either of two varieties, known as thin and thick) or by twisted-pair wiring. Thin Ethernet cabling is 0.5 cm (about 0.2 in) in diameter, and each segment of cable can have a maximum length of 185 m (607 ft); thick Ethernet cabling is 1cm (about 0.4 in) in diameter and has a maximum segment length of 500 m (1640 ft). Information on an Ethernet network is sent in variable-length frames containing delivery and control information plus up to 1500 bytes of data. The original Ethernet standard provides for baseband transmission at 10 megabits (10 million bits) per second.