EISA
Extended ISA, PC bus standard that extends the AT bus (ISA bus) to 32 bits and
provides bus mastering. It was announced in 1988 as a 32-bit alternative to the
Micro Channel that would preserve investment in existing boards. PC and AT cards
(ISA cards) can also plug into EISA slots.
ETHERNET
Originally developed by Xerox Corporation, it typically refers to the IEEE 802.3
CSMA/CD protocol which runs at 10Mbps transfer rate.
ETHERNET NIC
Network interface card that is in compliance with the IEEE 802.3 standard. This
card functions at the media access control (MAC) layer, using carrier sense
multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD).
FAST ETHERNET NIC
Network interface card that is in compliance with the IEEE 802.3u standard. This
card functions at the media access control (MAC) layer, using carrier sense
multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD).
FAST ETHERNET SWITCH
A device that provides full 10 or 100 Mbps bandwidth to each port (segment).
FAULT TOLERANT
A method of making a computer or network system resistant to software errors and
hardware problems. A fault tolerant LAN system tries to ensure that even in the