Chapter . Ethernet
History of Ethernet
Robert Metcalfe developed Ethernet at the famous Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in 1972. The folks at Xerox PARC had developed a personal workstation with a graphical–user interface and needed a technology to network these workstations with their newly developed laser printers. (Remember, the first PC, the MITS altair, was not introduced to the public until 1975.)
Metcalfe originally called the network Alto Aloha Network but changed the name in 1973 to Ethernet to make it clear that any type of device could connect to his network. He chose the name “ether” because the network carried bits to every workstation in the same manner that scientists once thought waves were propagated through space by the ...
Get Cisco Networking Simplified now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
