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Definition of Ethernet
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| Definitive Guide |
A local area network (LAN), that sends communications through radio frequency signals carried by a coaxial cable.
Each computer on the network checks to see if another computer is transmitting and "gets in line." If two computers
transmit at the same time and their messages collide, they wait and send again in turn.
Metcalfe's first experimental network was called the Alto Aloha Network. In 1973 Metcalfe changed the name to "Ethernet,"
to make it clear that the system could support any computer--not just Altos--and to point out that his new network mechanisms
had evolved well beyond the Aloha system. He chose to base the name on the word "ether" as a way of describing an essential
feature of the system: the physical medium (i.e., a cable) carries bits to all stations, much the same way that the
old "luminiferous ether" was once thought to propagate electromagnetic waves through space. Thus, Ethernet was born.”
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