The Ethernet

Abstract

One of the most successful designs for the local area network (LAN) is the Ethernet. It was so named because scientists once believed in the existence of luminiferous ether though which electromagnetic radiation was propagated. In the 1970s, Norman Abramson and his colleagues at the University of Hawaii devised a new and elegant method to solve the channel allocation problem for a single channel. This was later known as the ALOHA model. The model describes how a number of computer systems, sharing one single channel, can transmit a message efficiently and effectively. Let’s imagine a meeting room discussion where everybody listens to the leader or speaker and waits in turn to deliver a speech in an orderly fashion. Similarly, in the ALOHA model, a method was developed for sharing a single channel for transmission. This was the start of Ethernet protocol development. In 1972, an experimental Ethernet system was developed at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center by Dr. Robert M. Metcalfe. Since then numerous organizations have developed and built “Ethernet-like” LANs. Around 1980, a consortium of DEC, Intel, and Xerox (DIX) produced an updated version of the Ethernet design, known as Ethernet Specification. Some also called it Ethernet Version II.