Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!think!mintaka!mit-eddie!bu-cs!kwe
From: kwe@bu-cs.BU.EDU (kwe@bu-it.bu.edu (Kent W. England))
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans
Subject: Re: Why Ethernet-over-twisted-pair, anyway?
Summary: So users can exercise control over media choice
Message-ID: <43566@bu-cs.BU.EDU>
Date: 29 Nov 89 16:49:34 GMT
References: <4645@blake.acs.washington.edu>
Reply-To: kwe@buit4.bu.edu (Kent England)
Followup-To: comp.dcom.lans
Organization: Boston U. Information Technology
Lines: 44

In article <4645@blake.acs.washington.edu> 
djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu (Dick O'Connor) writes:
>OK, Ethernet-over-twisted-pair fans, why is this innovation something to
>get excited over?  From theoretical or practical standpoints, why is 
>this new standard a boon to PC networking?
>
	One point no one has made, and it really isn't to the point of
your question, but to me is the single biggest reason to go with UTP
Ethernet, is that this standard, for the first time, allows the user
community to exercise the right to choose the media, independently of
the network technology and over the objections of the vendors, who
used to think that they controlled the media.  The work on 802.5 on
UTP is evidence of the same trend.  We choose UTP for some specific
reasons having to do with large scale networking.

	Of course, UTP has its limits, but for now you can support all
major LAN network technologies and every kind of modern phone service
on one standard medium.  This is a first for us users.  We are now in
control of the media, not the vendors.  We are also rapidly coming to
a consensus on how to wire buildings and campuses.  The EIA work,
mentioned in another thread of articles here, on building wiring is an
example of this.

	I expect this to continue as we move to advanced media, in
particular, fiber optic media.  62.5 multimode with ST and FDDI
connectors is rapidly becoming the de facto user-defined standard.
All other options are being rejected.

	This is why so many of us are excited by 10BaseT.  We are
winning the war over the media and bringing it under our control and
choice.  We choose UTP and star-wired building distribution so we can
manage and maintain it efficiently.  We make these choices because we
know what it takes to scale the networks up, which we are rapidly
doing.

	Since little workgroups in small spaces don't see these
scaling problems, it is natural for you to wonder why we who install
and manage big networks can get so excited by something that, on the
surface, is not particularly exciting technology.

	We are also winning the interoperable protocol wars, but that
is a topic for another thread.  :-)

	Kent England, Boston University