Ethernet’s 40th Anniversary: From ALOHA to Ethernety
May 22nd marked the 40th anniversary of the day Bob Metcalf sketched out the basic concept of Ethernet.
The anniversary was marked in commemorative event at the Computer History Museum presented by the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), parc and NetEvents.
In this video from NetEvents, Bob Metcalfe, UT Austin Professor of Innovation and Ethernet co-creator, sets the scene with reflections on how CSMA emerged from Hawaii, the early choices and challenges, and some ongoing implications of Metcalfe’s Law.
Every article published by Converge Digest is researched, curated, fact-checked and editorially reviewed by Jim Carroll, Editor & Publisher. AI-assisted drafting may be used to accelerate production, but all content is reviewed, refined and approved prior to publication.
You just read about Ethernet. Here is what it replaced:
Token Ring (802.5) served 1985–2000. What ultimately replaced it?
Token Ring (802.5) stations passed a small 'token' frame around a logical ring; only the token-holder could transmit, giving deterministic, collision-free access at the cost of ring-management overhead. Its job passed to Ethernet — but the problem it solved, and the ideas it proved, live on in what replaced it. The standard rests here in the archive. One of 198 technologies here that opened a door and then held it for the next.
May 22nd marked the 40th anniversary of the day Bob Metcalf sketched out the basic concept of Ethernet.
