Metcalfe's goal was to adapt the Hawaiian radio network for "in-building minicomputer communication." Buy why the name Ethernet? Wanting to keep the mechanism for transmission generic, the memo stated:
"While we may end up using coaxial cable trees to carry our broadcast transmissions, it seems wise to talk in terms of an ether, rather than 'the cable', for as long as possible. This will keep things general and who knows what other media will prove better than cable for a broadcast network; maybe radio or telephone circuits, or power wiring or frequency-multi-plexed CATV, or microwave environments, or even combinations thereof."His use of the term ether was from luminiferous ether, a 19th century theory on a invisible substance that acted as the transmission medium for electromagnetic waves. This was eventually disproven, in part by Einstein's theory of relativity.
Over the last 40 years, Ethernet speeds have increased by an order of magnitude roughly every 10 years: 10Mbps in 1973-83 to 100Mbps in 1993, 1G in 1998, 10G in 2002 and 100G in 2013. The current theoretical speed is 400G. With video increasingly making up the content load and more and more people posting and viewing it, higher speeds will be required. The timeframe for 400G has it being ratified by the IEEE in 2017.
And beyond even that? Ethernet connections directly to the brain? Speaking at the Ethernet Technology Summit, Jane Li, COO of Huawei Enterprises, envisioned a Brain-to-Computer Interface. The BCI is implanted in a human brain, perhaps to control prosthetic limbs with access to the cloud for storage and upgrades. She went on to venture Brain-to-Brain interfaces in 2053 taking advantage of Petabit Ethernet. Prepare to be assimilated...
Managing one of these B2B interfaces would bring a whole new level to the idea of local management.