``This is Section 3 of a four-section document entitled "Network Reading List: TCP/IP, UNIX, and Ethernet." The four sections of this annotated list of resources were created to help you find information about TCP/IP, UNIX, and Ethernet. The complete list describes a wide range of items, including both introductory and in-depth information.
Section 1 covers TCP/IP resources, Section 2 covers UNIX, Section 3, Ethernet, and Section 4, miscellaneous items.
Ethernet is a popular local area network (LAN) technology in wide use at sites around the world. Ethernet moves data between computers at a rate of 10 megabits per second over a wide variety of physical media including twisted-pair wire, coaxial cable, and fiber optic cable. A major reason for its popularity is that Ethernet is a very flexible and low cost network system. Ethernet's popularity also provides a high level of network interoperability.
Since Ethernet is so widely implemented you can link systems built by many different vendors using the same Ethernet LAN. Like TCP/IP and Unix, Ethernet is a technology that provides a common basis for supporting heterogeneous networks.
The 10 megabit Ethernet network standard has been in existence for over a decade, and is an international LAN standard. As a result, a large number of vendors sell Ethernet equipment and this helps keep the cost of the technology low. The large market for Ethernet equipment also leads to a steady stream of innovations, such as the use of thin coaxial and twisted-pair cabling, that makes it easier to build a reliable LAN in a wide variety of sites using standard Ethernet.''
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