Crestron
CEN-SWPOE-24
24-Port Managed PoE Switch
Operations Guide – DOC. 7036C
24-Port Managed PoE Switch: CEN-SWPOE-24
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Appendix: Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet
About Fast Ethernet
As the demand for desktop video, multimedia development, imaging, and other
speed-intensive applications continues to rise, the need for high performance, fault
tolerant LAN technology will become more critical.
Standard Ethernet, which has been the most popular networking technology to date
with a maximum data throughput of 10 Mbps (Megabits per second), is becoming
insufficient to handle the latest video, multimedia, and other speed intensive
client/server LAN applications.
Among the solutions to the problem of network speed, Fast Ethernet has emerged as
the most viable and economical. Capable of sending and receiving data at 100 Mbps,
it is more than fast enough to handle even the most demanding video and other
real-time applications.
Although there are a number of different competing Fast Ethernet implementations,
100BASE-TX is by far the most popular. Operating on two pairs of Category 5
(CAT5) unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cabling, 100BASE-TX supports high speed
signaling and is relatively inexpensive. Because it uses four wires for data
transmission and the same packet format, packet length, error control, and
management information as 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX can be made to communicate
with slower 10BASE-T equipment when routed through a switch.
This backwards compatibility is one of 100BASE-TX’s major advantages over other
forms of Fast Ethernet; it allows critical, speed dependent network segments to be
upgraded to 100BASE-TX speeds as needed without re-wiring, refitting, and
retraining an entire site. Networks can now mix both slow and fast network segments
for different users or departments.
About Gigabit Ethernet
Gigabit Ethernet runs at speeds of 1 Gbps (Gigabit per second), ten times faster than
100 Mbps Fast Ethernet, but it still integrates seamlessly with 100 Mbps Fast
Ethernet hardware. Users can connect Gigabit Ethernet hardware with either fiber
optic cabling or copper CAT5 cabling, with fiber optics more suited for network
backbones. As the new Gigabit standard gradually integrates into existing networks,
current computer applications will enjoy faster access time for network data,
hardware, and Internet connections.