Why is it called Ethernet?
The following excerpt from Ethernet: The
Definitive Guide (O'Reilly and Associates, 2000), explains
where the name "Ethernet" comes from:
Invention of Ethernet
“In late 1972, Metcalfe and his Xerox PARC colleagues developed the
first experimental Ethernet system to interconnect the Xerox Alto, a
personal workstation with a graphical user interface. The experimental
Ethernet was used to link Altos to one another, and to servers and
laser printers. The signal clock for the experimental Ethernet
interface was derived from the Alto's system clock, which resulted in
a data transmission rate on the experimental Ethernet of 2.94 Mbps.
Metcalfe's first experimental network was called the Alto Aloha
Network. In 1973 Metcalfe changed the name to "Ethernet," to make it
clear that the system could support any computer--not just Altos--and to
point out that his new network mechanisms had evolved well beyond the
Aloha system. He chose to base the name on the word "ether" as a way
of describing an essential feature of the system: the physical medium
(i.e., a cable) carries bits to all stations, much the same way that
the old "luminiferous ether" was once thought to propagate
electromagnetic waves through space. Thus, Ethernet was born.”
