Appendix B About Gigabit Ethernet

This appendix provides some background information about Ethernet/Fast Ethernet/Gigabit Ethernet switching technology.

Gigabit Ethernet Technology

Gigabit Ethernet is an extension of IEEE 802.3 Ethernet. It utilizes the same packet structure, format, and support for CSMA/CD protocol, full duplex, flow control, and management objects, but with a tenfold increase in theoretical throughput over 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet and a hundredfold increase over 10 Mbps Ethernet. Since it is compatible with all 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps Ethernet environments, Gigabit Ethernet provides a straightforward upgrade without wasting a company’s existing investment in hardware, software, and trained personnel.

The increased speed and extra bandwidth offered by Gigabit Ethernet is essential to coping with the network bottlenecks that frequently develop as computers and their busses get faster and more users use applications that generate more traffic. Upgrading key components, such as your backbone and servers, to Gigabit Ethernet can greatly improve network response times—as well as significantly speed up the traffic between your subnets.

Gigabit Ethernet enables fast optical fiber connections to support video conferencing, complex imaging, and similar data-intensive applications. Likewise, since data transfers occur 10 times faster than Fast Ethernet, servers outfitted with Gigabit Ethernet NICs are able to perform 10 times the number of operations in the same amount of time.

In addition, the phenomenal bandwidth delivered by Gigabit Ethernet is the most cost-effective method to take advantage of rapidly improving switching and routing internetworking technologies. And with advances in silicon technology and digital signal processing that enable Gigabit Ethernet to operate over unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cabling, outfitting your network with a powerful 1000 Mbps-capable backbone/server connection creates a flexible foundation for the next generation of network technology products.

Fast Ethernet Technology

The growing importance of LANs and the increasing complexity of desktop computing applications are fueling the need for high-performance networks. A number of high-speed LAN technologies have been proposed to provide greater bandwidth and improve client/server response times. Among them, 100BaseT (Fast Ethernet) provides a non-disruptive, smooth evolution from the current 10BaseT technology.

100 Mbps Fast Ethernet is a standard specified by the IEEE 802.3 LAN committee. It is an extension of the 10 Mbps Ethernet standard with the ability to transmit and receive data at 100 Mbps, while maintaining the CSMA/CD Ethernet protocol. Since the 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet is compatible with all other 10 Mbps Ethernet environments, it provides a straightforward upgrade and takes advantage of the existing investment in hardware, software, and personnel training.

Switching Technology

Another approach to pushing beyond the limits of Ethernet technology is the development of switching technology. A switch bridges Ethernet packets at the MAC address level of the Ethernet protocol transmitting among connected Ethernet or Fast Ethernet LAN segments.

Switching is a cost-effective way of increasing the total network capacity available to users on a local area network. A switch increases capacity and decreases network loading by dividing a local area network into different segments that don’t compete with each other for network transmission capacity.

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