Bridge To Tera Bit Ethernet
- 1. The IEEE is pushing Ethernet to unimaginable speeds, with the 40/100Gigabit Ethernet standard expected to be ratified in 2010 and Terabit Ethernet on the drawing board for 2015. Here's a timeline showing key milestones in the growth of Ethernet.
- 2. Bob Metcalfe, working at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, was told to come up with a way to link hundreds of computers to the company's new laser printers. Metcalfe's initial thoughts are captured on this diagram, which was part of his memo describing a design for Ethernet at 3Mbps over shared coaxial cable.
- 3. Metcalfe and David Boggs publish paper entitled: "Ethernet: Distributed Packet-Switching for Local Computer Networks." Paper describes multipoint data communication system with collision detection.
- 4. Metcalfe leaves Xerox and founds 3Com. The next year, he publishes standard for 10Mbps Ethernet, known as the DIX standard (for Ethernet backers Digital, Intel and Xerox).
- 5. The IEEE becomes the official standards body for Ethernet. Open standards help make Ethernet the dominant LAN technology. Anybody remember Token Ring?
- 6. IEEE publishes standard for 10Base5 Ethernet, also known as thick Ethernet because it ran over yellow coax that resembled a garden hose. Imagine stringing that across your LAN.
- 7. Start-up Kalpana introduces first Ethernet switch, which eventually replaces bridges and hubs. Where's Kalpana today? You guessed it: Cisco bought them.
- 8. IEEE approves 10Base-T Ethernet over Cat-3 twisted pair cabling, which becomes the standard for LAN deployments.
- 9. IEEE approves 10BaseF, Ethernet over fibre for use in data centers.
- 10. IEEE adopts standard for Ethernet at 100Mbps. It becomes known as Fast Ethernet.
- 11. Standard for 1000Base-T or Gigabit Ethernet is approved.
- 12. Pre-standard products start shipping in 2001, but formal standard for 10Gigabit Ethernet is approved in 2002.
- 13. First pre-standard 40/100 Gigabit Ethernet products slated to ship later this year. Standard expected to be ratified in mid-2010. IEEE says it will then start working on terabit standard, with a goal of completion by 2015.