02 June 2003

Quick Facts about Ethernet FT -- The near-ubiquity of the Ethernet, now 30 years old, illustrates some truths about technology. Simple engineering often trumps more elaborate alternatives. Open standards, which can be used and developed by anyone, have an advantage over solutions controlled by one company. If the Internet is the information superhighway, Ethernet technology is the on-ramp. The original Xerox system moved data between computers at a sedate 2.94 megabits per second, roughly a paragraphy per second. The latest versions run at speeds of 10 gigabits, or 10,000 megabits per second. Robert Metcalfe named his invention after the "luminiferous ether," the mystical substance once thought to enable propagation of electromagnetic waves through space. The Token Ring system developed in the 1980s by IBM was seen as superior by many engineers. Intel is building gigabit Ethernet into chipsets for personal computers. The extra speed will faciliate downloading of huge databases, video streams and enable full-screen videoconferences. Scott Morrison: "Internet's brave little engine gathers speed" in The Financial Times, May 21, 2003 x_ref140

01 June 2003

Underway in Ireland is moving to its own domain KILKENNY ORMONDE HOTSPOT -- Time to reset your preferences to continue reading this weblog. After 24 June 2003, Underway in Ireland will be situated on its own domain of the same name. The RSS feed will percolate into the major directories as time goes along. Because I know most aggregators won't get this message, I'm going to refresh both radio.weblogs.com/0102560 and www.topgold.com/blog with a summary of the most requested pages from the previous month. However, my daily writings will upload to Underway in Ireland. x_ref1256

The Instant Messaging Invasion GARRINGREEN HOTSPOT -- Some analysts predict that the Instant Messaging world will become like telecom, with AOL, Mocrosoft and Yahoo as major carriers. IM handles pesky oneliners that clutter inboxes. Superquick file transfers happen with IM, albeit with some security concerns. AOL, Yahoo, and Microsoft have a combined total of 102m IM users, according to comScore Media Metrix. All the major IM players have corporate IM functionalities, including Yahoo Messenger Enterprise Edition, AOL's Emterprise IM Serivces, and MSN Messenger Connect. Microsoft's Real-Time Collaboration is a sweet package that connects IM, e-mail, phones and web conferencing on the same platform. IBM's Sametime has captured 73% of the enterprise IM market. Some of the arguments against IM sound like the ones made against Internet browsers, e-mail and the telephone in the workplace. But can anyone work without any of those? Christine Chen: "The IM Invasion" in Fortune, May 26, 2003 x_ref15