1973

1986

First memo mentioning

Ethernet authored

THE HISTORY OF

1975

OPTICAL & ETHERNET

First Ethernet patent filed

with data rate of ~3 Mb/s

1980

First Ethernet standard

published, called DIX

2001

1995

Kalpana introduces EtherSwitch,

the first Ethernet switch

Fast Ethernet (100 Mb/s) adoption

Ethernet bandwidth used for

business access exceeds all other legacy
technologies it was intended to replace

1977

First wide-area network fiber-optic cable system

deployed in Hastings, East Sussex, United Kingdom

First low-loss optical fiber

invented, transmitting 17 dB/km

First commercial DWDM

systems introduced by Ciena

First commercially viable EDFA invented

1978

1970

1995

1987

2.5G

1990

First commercial 2.5G

optical systems deployed

10G

MEF launches CE 2.0

certification program

2004

First 10G optical system

introduced by Nortel

2008

First coherent 40G solution, offering

a plug and play approach to increase
traffic carrying capacity four-fold

MEMORABLE MOMENTS

1973

1979

First cell phone call made (from phone weighing

2.2 pounds and measuring 10 inches long)

1970

1993

1982

Sony Walkman
introduced

1975

1998

Google search
engine launched

Television and radio Internet

broadcasting begin

Personal computer market born

First CD player released

1980

SOURCES: MEF, Wikipedia, Heavy Reading, TIME, Business Insider, CBS News, University of North Carolina, Bright Hub, Tech Hive, Vertical Systems Group
Design by Column Five

1985

1996

Mosaic Web browser

and webpages born

1990

First DVD video released

in the United States

1995

Ethernet turns 40

1995

1994

1976

2013

First converged packet-optical

platform, reducing the amount of
equipment required in the network

OPTICAL

1965

2012

Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF)

founded to define Ethernet services

2011

First live optical fiber telephone call

made in Long Beach, California

Optical fiber communication born

1989

Comcast becomes first provider to

achieve MEF CE 2.0 certification

ETHERNET

A timeline of innovation in Ethernet and optical technologies,

and the memorable tech moments in between

1966

2012

Digital Equipment Corps

Ethernet network achieves
10,000 nodes

2000

2005

40G

400G
100G

First 100G
deployment

2007

Facebook invented

First iPhone released to the public

2005

First software-programmable coherent

solution, scaling from 100G to 400G

2009

YouTube created

2004

2012

2010

PACKETS AND LIGHT

DONE RIGHT