10BASE5 (also known as thick Ethernet or thicknet) was the first commercially available variant of Ethernet. The technology was standardized in 1982[1] as IEEE 802.3. 10BASE5 uses a thick and stiff coaxial cable[2] up to 500 meters (1,600 ft) in length. Up to 100 stations can be connected to the cable using vampire taps and share a single collision domain with 10 Mbit/s of bandwidth shared among them. The system is difficult to install and maintain.
10BASE5 was superseded by much cheaper and more convenient alternatives: first by 10BASE2 based on a thinner coaxial cable (1985), and then, once Ethernet over twisted pair was developed, by 10BASE-T (1990) and its successors 100BASE-TX and 1000BASE-T. In 2003, the IEEE 802.3 working group deprecated 10BASE5 for new installations.[3]
- ^ von Burg, Urs; Kenney, Martin (December 2003). "Sponsors, Communities, and Standards: Ethernet vs. Token Ring in the Local Area Networking Business" (PDF). Industry & Innovation. 10 (4): 351–375. doi:10.1080/1366271032000163621. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 6, 2011. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
- ^ Belden. "Product 9880" (PDF). catalog.belden.com. Belden. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
- ^ IEEE 802.3-2005 8. Medium attachment unit and baseband medium specifications, type 10BASE5