As demand surged for bandwidth, ATM and frame-based networks were ill
equipped to support the broadband41 applications driving the bandwidth. Ethernet,
with its periodic ten fold increase in bandwidth, began to seem like an attractive alternative
to duplicating ATM equipment. Furthermore, most of the applications driving
the bandwidth were based on the Internet Protocol (IP) and were especially well suited
for Ethernet access and transport (IP devices such as routers typically have Ethernet
interfaces). In addition, Ethernet, in line with its heritage in the LAN, continued to
innovate and improve its capabilities, and consequently, as it had done so many times
in the past (as noted previously, with token-based technologies in the LAN), Ethernet
surpassed its competition on other aspects as well. The many key reasons for considering
Ethernet beyond the LAN are discussed next.
Benefits of Ethernet Beyond the LAN
As noted previously, Ethernet had long ago begun in earnest to address distance, resiliency,
and scaling issues that would be present in a MAN and beyond. In fact, it continually
extended its functionality in each of these areas and standardized it as well as
shown in Table 1.
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