Networking is another way in which advances in computer engineering and software have paved the way for the advancement of communication, industry, and our lives in general through technological advancements. Just as the use of fire and wheel carving have given us advantages over the dangers of life, the networking of computers has brought a distant and unattainable world closer to each of us. First of all, we are now able to share information almost instantly with an unreachable world. The engineering that made this possible didn't begin on some other planet, or from the depths of a sacred sanctuary. But from the ingenuity of a partnership of companies that tried to find a reasonable (and soon profitable) solution to the proprietary incompatibility of emerging information system networks. Although networking our information systems has many different areas of study, this article is about Ethernet. In it I will discuss the basic components of an Ethernet connection. How they work and how they don't. The Ethernet connection was invented in the 1970s by large companies of the time; Intel, IBM and digital equipment. They worked together to develop a standard that would allow all computers to communicate with each other, rather than just with each other. At the beginning, many different systems were launched on the market. With every emerging technology that initially arrives in our markets you have a controlling owner with an exuberant price to match. Then, when the engineering is disclosed, reverse engineered, or redeveloped, other companies get in on the action and competition drives down prices. This resulted in a computer wave hitting business (very rarely personal) markets. Well, now we have better prices but none of these systems wanted to speak the same language. This has put a strain on the consumer's wallet. Not only did they have to purchase the computer, but now they need the proper equipment to transmit to the system down the hall! As mentioned above, the problem was solved thanks to the collaboration of many and, just like the common toaster, most of the bread will fit in it. Ethernet is a protocol that uses a physical connection (for traveling over the air) established between computers and allows data to be sent from one system to another.