What is Ethernet ?
Ethernet is a prominent and dominant Local Area Network technology. The purpose is to share the local resources within a premise or at least within all the nearby premises. Such resources include some costly software, databases of the company, hard disks, disk drives or printers, email, chats, video conference etc without depending on the internet.
The name Ether in Ethernet comes because of its early history of using the ether, the open space to communicate dispersed computers via radio techniques. The expression was “ to send the packet to the ether”. The technology used those days was the CSMA/CD , presently almost extinct.
Ethernet uses MAC addressing present on its Network Interface Cards (NIC) for reaching/identifying the computers. This address is the hardware address etched in the factory before leaving its premises and is left unchanged during its life.
The packet format is also different compared to that of the internet. Very less error checking is employed because of the low probability of error occurring in such local networks.
what does an Ethernet cable do ?
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| Twisted pair |
Ethernet is a defined networking protocol. It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 1983 as IEEE 802.3 and sits at layers 1 & 2 (Physical and Data link) of the ISO 7 layer model. Ethernet is used as the basis for the significant majority of local area networks. Ethernet can run at speeds from around Mbps (megabits per second) up to 100 GBPS (Gigabits per second) depending on the variant of the standard used.
An Ethernet cable is a cable conforming to the Ethernet standards - which cover several different physical configurations, including Coaxial cable, Twisted pair and Fiber optic.
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| Fiber optic |
The most common these days is twisted pair with an
RJ45 connector -
In short, an Ethernet cable links a network enabled device (computer, printer, hub, router) to another network enabled device, allowing for communication between the two. For example, you could use an Ethernet cable to connect your desktop computer to your broadband router (if your desktop does not have WiFi) to allow your desktop computer to access the internet.
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| RJ45 connector |
In short, an Ethernet cable links a network enabled device (computer, printer, hub, router) to another network enabled device, allowing for communication between the two. For example, you could use an Ethernet cable to connect your desktop computer to your broadband router (if your desktop does not have WiFi) to allow your desktop computer to access the internet.