The Evolution of Broadband Ethernet
Wael William Diab, Howard M. Frazier · 2011
This chapter discusses the origins of the Ethernet in the First Mile standard. It briefly examines the technologies that had previously been applied to broadband subscriber access networks, and lists their shortcomings. The technologies include integrated services digital network (ISDN), cable modem, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), satellite communications and broadband wireless. The chapter then presents the key attributes that made Ethernet an overwhelming success in enterprise networks. It demonstrates how those attributes can be exploited to solve the seemingly intractable problem of providing a satisfying, robust, scalable, and profitable broadband subscriber access network. The chapter concludes with a thorough dissection of the objectives that the IEEE 802.3 Working Group adopted to guide the technical content of the standard. Controlled Vocabulary Terms asynchronous transfer mode; IEEE 802.3 Standards; ISDN; radio access networks; satellite communication