In 1985, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) in the United States of America, produced a series of standards for Local Area Networks (LANs) called the IEEE 802 standards. These have found widespread acceptability and now form the core of most LANs. One of the IEEE 802 standards, IEEE 802.3, is a standard known as "Ethernet". This is the most widely used LAN technology in the world today.
Ethernet was developed by the Xerox Corporation's Palo Alto Research Centre (known colloquially as Xerox PARC) in 1972 and was probably the first true LAN to be introduced. Although IEEE 802.3 differs somewhat from the original standard (the "blue book" defined in September 1980) it is very similar, and both sets of standards may be used with the same LAN. Modern Ethernet LANs may be implemented using a variety of media.
Computers connect to the LAN using a Network Interface Card (NIC) that controls the transmission and reception of data using a Medium Acccess Control (MAC) protocol.
The original work on Ethernet at Xerox PARC used 75 Ohm coaxial cable, and operated at 3 Mbps. The main reason for developing Ethernet was to share very expensive printers. Robert Metcalf (who went on to found 3COM Corp) was working at Xerox PARC, and is often considered the "father" of Ethernet.
http://www.erg.abdn.ac.uk/users/gorry Date: 10/11/1995 Revised: 7/10/2003