Category 5 UTP, token ring, twisted pair, hub, switch, gigabit……….What do all these items have in common? In case you didn’t figure it out right away, all the above listed items are related to Ethernet in some way or another. During the mid to late 1990’s as prices of commodity PC Hardware began to decline, households began to acquire more than one PC, and networking them together became increasingly popular. It wasn’t long thereafter that the Internet really gained steam, resulting in explosive growth of companies that produced networking and home networking products. Most people that own a home network don’t give Ethernet or network cabling too much thought these days. It’s just a cable that plugs into the network interface card on one end and into a modem/switch on the other, and then things work. While it is true that DIY (Do-It-Yourself) home networking has simplified immensely over the years, there is still a lot that must go on behind the scenes for a network to work properly. So, how does Ethernet really work on the technical level and how has it evolved since its invention almost 30 years ago? Is there really Ether involved? What’s the difference between a hub and a switch and how these work together with Ethernet? The purpose of this article serves to answer some of these questions by providing a historical background of Ethernet, an in-depth discussion of how the protocol works, advancements in Ethernet technology, and finally a short discussion of common Ethernet network building blocks, namely hubs and switches.

It should be noted that this is not meant to be a definitive guide to Ethernet. It is mainly my intent to provide a more in depth look of how Ethernet works and how the technology has evolved since its inception. Naturally, given the extensiveness of the subject, I can’t cover every little thing in detail, but I will hit on many of the main points and ideas in the discussion that follows. Should you need/want more information after reading this article, I ask that you please consult the sources I’m listing at the end of the article.

With that bit of a disclaimer out of the way, let’s get started looking at the history of Ethernet.