Computerworld - Robert M. "Bob" Metcalfe invented the local-area networking standard he called Ethernet on May 22, 1973, at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. Ethernet originally meant a shared media LAN. It is greatly changed today, but the name still sticks for a set of networking protocols that have become ubiquitous during the past 30 years. Metcalfe went on to co-found 3Com Corp. in 1979, then became a publisher and pundit in the 1990s, serving as CEO of InfoWorld, where he also wrote a column. He recently became a venture capitalist and is in his third year as a general partner at Polaris Venture Partners in Waltham, Mass. He spoke with Computerworld about Ethernet as a venture model and where the technology is headed.
Why celebrate the 30th anniversary of Ethernet? The world needs some good news. We're in an economic funk and a war funk and a terrorism funk, and there are still some things out there working. And one of them is Ethernet, and it's 30 years old and going strong. On May 22, we're having a celebration at PARC, and that's the very date of the anniversary of a memo I wrote describing it. The focus of that celebration is what is working with Ethernet ... and how it sets a model for other activities in our economy moving forward and what is likely to happen to Ethernet in the future.
Robert M. "Bob" Metcalfe invented the local-area networking standard he called Ethernet
I claim that what the word Ethernet actually refers to now is a business model. Of course, there is a physical set of networks there, and you can argue about to what extent it is what was originally Ethernet, but we still call it Ethernet. But there is
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