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Ethernet

This is a LAN technology developed by Xerox, and later standarized by this same company in conjunction with Ditgital Equipment Corporation and Intel. The original ethernet used a coaxial cable, acting as a broadcast transmission. This method is similar to radio systems, although it differs from the fact that its much easier to detect collisions in a cable system than radio systems. When the device send data to other device on the network, the data is broadcast to all devices on the network. Once they receive the data, they read it and if it is not address to it they discard it. Only the device wich data was addressed will read it and it's content. Now days, the devices still broadcasting the data, but with some network equipment the data will arrive to its destination only, it will not be broadcast.

The ethernet evolves, releasing more standards and changing the medium in wich transmit data and the architecture. In this evolution they start it with the twisted pair cables. This type of cable is capable of transmit data from 10Mbps to 10Gbps. There are various specifications for this type of cable in order to transmit at certain rate.

Also, ethernet uses a method to handle simultaneous demands called Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD). This method permit the devices on the network to listen to it before "talk" to another device; send data to other device on the network. If a collision is detected the transmition is aborted, then listen to the network to see if there's no activity and tries again.

This type of interface you will find it mostly on PCs and printers.