Fast Ethernet – Speed Limit:100 Mb/sec Ethernet!
Full motion video for video conferencing requires, typically, at least 25 Mb/sec. That means that a legacy Ethernet, at 10 Mb/sec, can only deliver poor quality real-time video. With 100 megabits per second, however, you can be watching a broadcast presentation in one window while you’re in conference with three people in three other windows (for a total of 100 megabits of bandwidth.
Consider a file server that requires .6 Mb/sec (6 million bits per second; 60% utilization on a 10 Mb/sec). With 100 megabits per second this server can now utilize interface hardware that can pump data down the pipe at a greatly increased rate.
It seems clear that the evolution of the industry is away from 10 Mb/sec Ethernet and towards the 100 Mb/sec (or higher) rates of data transfer. This section of the compendium discusses 100 megabits per second technology.