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[802.3_DIALOG] Happy Birthday to our Ethernet



Colleagues-

Just a quick note to call your attention to today.  It is the 40th anniversary of the publication of the original multi-vendor Ethernet spec.  The consortium of Digital Equipment, Intel and Xerox  (aka DIX) published:
     The Ethernet

A Local Area Network

    Data Link Layer
             and
     Physical Layer
     Specifications

       Version 1.0
September 30, 1980
This touched off a wave of implementations from a number of vendors.  Interoperability between vendors was key.  There were some minor tweaks to the hardware in V2.0 in November 1982.  V2.0 was essentially the same hardware as what was specified in the initial version of IEEE Std that was published New Year's 1985.  By that time Ethernet was well established in the market in the thick coax version (10BASE5) and Dot 3 was moving on to CheaperNet (10BASE2) and Broadband (10BROAD36).  We had a significant lead in product placement over 802.4 and 802.5 hardware which had not yet come to market.  There were other LANs in the market but they were generally proprietary and starting to fade away.

We have celebrated a number of anniversaries: the invention of the original 3MB Ethernet (now known as "Experimental Ethernet"), the founding of 802 and the approval of IEEE Std 802.3-1985.  This is the one that I think is important.

You can download your very own copy of the original specification from the net.
It's at:  http://ww.bitsavers.org/pdf/xerox/ethernet/Ethernet_Rev1.0_Sep1980.pdf

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US !!

Best regards,

Geoff Thompson
GraCaSI S.A.
Mountain View, CA 94043


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