Classic Ethernet is a family of 10 Mbit/s

Ethernet Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 1 ...

standards, which is the first generation of Ethernet standards. In 10BASE-X, the 10 represents its maximum throughput of 10

Mbit/s In telecommunications, data-transfer rate is the average number of bits ( bitrate), characters or symbols ( baudrate), or data blocks per unit time passing through a communication link in a data-transmission system. Common data rate units are mu ...

, BASE indicates its use of

baseband In telecommunications and signal processing, baseband is the range of frequencies occupied by a signal that has not been modulated to higher frequencies. Baseband signals typically originate from transducers, converting some other variable int ...

transmission, and X indicates the type of medium used.

Varieties

Fibre-based standards (10BASE-F)

''10BASE-F'', or sometimes ''10BASE-FX'', is a generic term for the family of 10 Mbit/s

standards using

fiber optic cable A fiber-optic cable, also known as an optical-fiber cable, is an assembly similar to an electrical cable, but containing one or more optical fibers that are used to carry light. The optical fiber elements are typically individually coated with ...

. In 10BASE-F, the 10 represents a maximum throughput of 10 Mbit/s, BASE indicates its use of

transmission, and F indicates that it relies on medium of fiber-optic cable. The technical standard requires two strands of 62.5/125 µm

multimode fiber Multi-mode optical fiber is a type of optical fiber mostly used for communication over short distances, such as within a building or on a campus. Multi-mode links can be used for data rates up to 100 Gbit/s. Multi-mode fiber has a fairly large ...

. One strand is used for data transmission while the other is used for reception, making 10BASE-F a

full-duplex A duplex communication system is a point-to-point system composed of two or more connected parties or devices that can communicate with one another in both directions. Duplex systems are employed in many communications networks, either to allow ...

technology. There a three different variants of 10BASE-F: 10BASE-FL, 10BASE-FB and 10BASE-FP. Of these only 10BASE-FL experienced widespread use. With the introduction of later standards 10 Mbit/s technology has been largely replaced by faster

Fast Ethernet In computer networking, Fast Ethernet physical layers carry traffic at the nominal rate of 100 Mbit/s. The prior Ethernet speed was 10 Mbit/s. Of the Fast Ethernet physical layers, 100BASE-TX is by far the most common. Fast Ethern ...

Gigabit Ethernet In computer networking, Gigabit Ethernet (GbE or 1 GigE) is the term applied to transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of a gigabit per second. The most popular variant, 1000BASE-T, is defined by the IEEE 802.3ab standard. It came into use ...

and

100 Gigabit Ethernet 40 Gigabit Ethernet (40GbE) and 100 Gigabit Ethernet (100GbE) are groups of computer networking technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames at rates of 40 and 100 gigabits per second (Gbit/s), respectively. These technologies offer significantly ...

standards.

FOIRL

''Fiber-optic inter-repeater link'' (FOIRL) is a specification of Ethernet over optical fiber. It was especially designed as a back-to-back transport between repeater hubs as to decrease latency and

collision In physics, a collision is any event in which two or more bodies exert forces on each other in a relatively short time. Although the most common use of the word ''collision'' refers to incidents in which two or more objects collide with great fo ...

detection time, thus increasing the possible network radius. It was replaced by 10BASE-FL.

10BASE-FL

10BASE-FL is the most commonly used 10BASE-F specification of

over

optical fiber An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass ( silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a mea ...

. In 10BASE-FL, ''FL'' stands for fiber optic link. It replaces the original fiber-optic inter-repeater link (FOIRL) specification, but retains compatibility with FOIRL-based equipment. When mixed with FOIRL equipment, maximum segment length is limited to FOIRL's 1000 meters.

10BASE-FB

The 10BASE-FB is a

network segment A network segment is a portion of a computer network. The nature and extent of a segment depends on the nature of the network and the device or devices used to interconnect end stations. Ethernet According to the defining IEEE 802.3 standards ...

used to bridge

Ethernet hub An Ethernet hub, active hub, network hub, repeater hub, multiport repeater, or simply hub is a network hardware device for connecting multiple Ethernet devices together and making them act as a single network segment. It has multiple input/out ...

s. Here ''FB'' abbreviates FiberBackbone. Due to the

synchronous Synchronization is the coordination of events to operate a system in unison. For example, the conductor of an orchestra keeps the orchestra synchronized or ''in time''. Systems that operate with all parts in synchrony are said to be synchronou ...

operation of 10BASE-FB, delays normally associated with

repeater In telecommunications, a repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal and retransmits it. Repeaters are used to extend transmissions so that the signal can cover longer distances or be received on the other side of an obstruction. Som ...

s are reduced, thus allowing segment distances to be extended without compromising the collision detection mechanism. The maximum allowable segment length for 10BASE-FB is 2000 meters. This media system allowed multiple half-duplex Ethernet signal repeaters to be linked in series, exceeding the limit on the total number of repeaters that could be used in a given 10 Mbit/s Ethernet system. 10BASE-FB links were attached to synchronous signaling repeater hubs and used to link the hubs together in a half-duplex repeated backbone system that could span longer distances.

10BASE-FP

In 10BASE-FP, ''FP'' denotes Fibre Passive. This variant calls for a non-powered signal coupler to act as optical signal couplers capable of linking up to 33 devices, with each segment being up to 500 m in length. This formed a star-type network centered on the signal coupler. There are no devices known to have implemented this standard.

References

{{Ethernet Ethernet standards