On 16 Apr 2002, at 1:02, Rick Glazier wrote:

> I was recently given an  Intel PRO/1000T 10/100/1000Mbps (Gigabit
> Ethernet desktop adapter) by Microsoft.
>
> It seems like over-kill for me. My hub is still only 10M... (When I
> bother to hook it up.) Are there any particular advantages to me
> using this card on a slower network?  CPU load, etc...
>
> It is totally useless (over-kill) for DSL or Cable, (correct?)
>
> When I tried to get a second one at CompUSA (so I could at least
> wire two computers to each other with a crossover cable) I was told
> they do not have them. Are they "too new"?, or something from "last
> January" that never quite caught on...
>
>                            Rick Glazier

  A year ago, gigabit ethernet was still pretty new in the corporate
world.  Today, I hear about product introductions of 10Gb gear, which
sound like it's at the point that 1Gb was at about three years ago.

  Their most immediate application is probably going to be in campus
backbones, where ATM over OC-3 (155Mb) and OC-12 (622Mb) are
currently common.  It's pretty unlikely that anyone much will be
running 1Gb at home before about 2005 or so.

  It's *possible* -- particularly with the economic downturn -- that
while businesses that need fast links move up to 10Gb while sticking
with 100Mb to the desktop, and so 1Gb *may* never hit the economies
of scale that have brought down prices for 100Mb equipment.  But I
think it's still too early to make that judgement.

Dave Gillett

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