Newer Technologies

100 Mbps Ethernet (100baseT)

so-called "Fast Ethernet".

• Modern switches have at least one 100BaseT port, and 100BaseT hubs are also invariably switches.
• Modern "Ethernet cards" are usually auto-detecting "10/100Mbps".
• "Full-duplex" systems can simultaneously send and receive at 100Mbps.

 

Fibre Distributed Data Interface

FDDI operates at 100 Mbps. It has been the Big New Thing for a decade, but has never been widely adopted due to its complexity and fiendishly high cost.
 

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)

This is a system which allows integrated voice/video/data networks, currently at bit rates between 25Mbps and 625Mbps, with the most common version running at 155Mbps. Complex and expensive, but becoming very popular.
 

Gigabit Ethernet

A variation which is compatible with 10 and 100 Mbps Ethernet, but runs at 1000Mbps. Still very expensive, but will probably become the dominant LAN technology.

• Note: we have not covered token ring LANs in this lecture. See the assignment topics if interested.