Fundamentals of Communications and Networking, 3rd Edition

Ethernet Network Design Fundamentals

Early Ethernet networks were designed utilizing bus topologies. The original IEEE Ethernet standard, IEEE 802.3, defined a network running at 10 Mbps using Thicknet coaxial cable. This was referred to as 10Base5. The 10Base5 standard equals 10 Mbps, baseband transmission, using Thicknet with a 500-meter distance limitation. Many organizations first ran Thicknet coaxial cabling throughout their office buildings and connected individual workstations to the main cable using Ethernet transceivers. Ethernet bus topologies became a little easier to deploy when IEEE released 802.3a, which defined Ethernet using Thinnet coaxial cabling. In 1990, IEEE released the 802.3i (10Base-T) standard and specification, which ...