Another higher-bandwidth technology became available
in June 1998. Gigabit Ethernet (IEEE standard 802.3z) specifies
operations at 1000 Mbps, another tenfold bandwidth improvement. It was
discussed earlier how stations are hard-pressed to fully utilize
100-Mbps Ethernet. Why then do we need a gigabit-bandwidth technology?
Gigabit Ethernet proponents expect to find it as either a backbone
technology or as a pipe into very-high-speed file servers. This
contrasts with Fast Ethernet in that network
administrators can deploy Fast Ethernet to clients or servers, or use it
as a backbone technology.
In a switched network, Gigabit Ethernet interconnects
switches to form a high-speed backbone. The switches in the figure have
low-speed stations connecting to them (10 and 100 Mbps), but have
1000-Mbps to pass traffic between workstations. A file server in the
network also benefits from a 1000-Mbps connection supporting more
concurrent client accesses.