History of Ethernet

When we speak about Internet connectivity, Ethernet is the first thing which comes into our mind. Ethernet is the most widely used technology that is used for Local Area Networks (LAN). It was invented in the 1970s and it got evolved over years which served as a building block for the modern wired networking practise.

Early Development (1973 - 1980)

• In the year 1973, Ethernet was invented by Robert Metcalfe at Xerox PARC i.e Palo Alto Research Center. He thought about a high speed networking technology which is used to connect the computers inside the office network.
• In 1976, Metcalfe along with David Boggs, published a paper based on Ethernet which used Coaxial Cables with a transfer speed on 2.94 Mbps.
• Xerox, Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) collaboratively developed Ethernet Version 1.0 which standardised the Ethernet Technology in the year 1980.

IEEE Standardisatization (1980s):

• The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) released the 802.3 standard of Ethernet which can achieve the speed of 10 Mbps network using Coaxial Cable in the year 1983.
• In 1985, the standard was improved with 10BASE-T which made the Ethernet to operate over the twisted pair cables, which makes them cost effective.

Advancements in Media and Speed (1990s):

• In 1990, the speed of the Ethernet increased from 10Mbps to 100 Mbps because of the development of Fast Ethernet (100BASE - TX).
• Later the speed of Ethernet attained massive 1Gbps data transfer with the 1000BASE-T standard in 1995.

Increase in the Higher Speeds (2000s - 2010s):

• In 2002, 10 Gigabit Ethernet(10Gbe) was introduced which supports copper connections and fiber-optic cables.
• In 2010, the first commercial 40 Gbps Ethernet standard was released.
• In 2017, 100 Gbps Ethernet had become as a common standard for enabling the fast data transfer rates in the data centers and the big enterprise networks.

Modern Development(2020s)

• In the later part of 2020, Ethernet continued to evolve, reaching the speeds of 400 Gbps and over.
• Power Over Ethernet(PoE): This standard allows the devices like IP cameras and wireless access points to receive power through Ethernet Cables.
• Ethernet serves as a backbone for cloud computing, high speed internet connections and the AI driven workloads.

Conclusion:

Since its invention from the 1970s its wider usage in modern networking, Ethernet has adapted to tech advancements while preserving its core principles for years and its more than five decades now. It acts as a cost effective and easy to scale method for network connectivity and provides reliable performance and it will stay dominant in the networking industry in the future.