- A family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LANs), metropolitan area networks (MANs), and wide area networks (WANs). Ethernet was developed between 1973 and 1974 at Xerox PARC, commercially introduced in 1980, and first standardized in 1983 as IEEE 802.3. It has since been refined to support higher bit rates, a greater number of nodes, and longer link distances, but retains much backward compatibility. Over time, it has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies such as Token Ring, FDDI, and ARCNET. Ethernet is widely used in homes and industry, and interworks well with wireless Wi-Fi technologies. The Internet Protocol is commonly carried over Ethernet, and so it is considered one of the key technologies that make up the Internet. ← Wikipedia
- Related terms: Local area network · Link Layer Discovery Protocol · Wide area network · Internet
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