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Chapter 1: Introduction
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Gigabit Ethernet technology
Gigabit Ethernet is an extension of IEEE 802.3 Ethernet. It uses the same packet
structure, format, and support for CSMA/CD protocol, full duplex, and flow
control, but with a tenfold increase in theoretical throughput over 100-Mbps
Fast Ethernet and a hundredfold increase over 10-Mbps Ethernet. Because it is
compatible with all 10-Mbps and 100-Mbps Ethernet environments, Gigabit
Ethernet provides a straightforward upgrade without wasting a company’s
existing investment in hardware, software, and trained personnel.
The increased speed and extra bandwidth offered by Gigabit Ethernet are
essential to coping with the network bottlenecks that frequently develop as
computers and their busses get faster and more users use applications that
generate more traffic. Upgrading key components, such as your backbone and
servers, to Gigabit Ethernet can greatly improve network response times as well
as significantly speed up the traffic between your subnets.
Gigabit Ethernet supports video conferencing, complex imaging, and similar
data-intensive applications.
Because data transfers occur 10 times faster than Fast Ethernet, servers outfitted
with Gigabit Ethernet NIC’s are able to perform 10 times the number of
operations in the same amount of time.
Switching technology
Another key development pushing the limits of Ethernet technology is in the
field of switching technology. A switch bridges Ethernet packets at the MAC
address level of the Ethernet protocol transmitting among connected Ethernet
or Fast Ethernet LAN segments.
Switching is a cost-effective way of increasing the total network capacity
available to users on a local area network. A switch increases capacity and
decreases network loading by making it possible for a local area network to be
divided into different segments which do not compete with each other for
network transmission capacity, giving a decreased load on each.
The switch acts as a high-speed selective bridge between the individual
segments. Traffic that needs to go from one segment to another (from one port
to another) is automatically forwarded by the switch, without interfering with
any other segments (ports). This allows the total network capacity to be
multiplied, while still maintaining the same network cabling and adapter cards.