3Com 3CBLSF50 User Guide - Page 102

102 GLOSSARY Category 3 Cables One of five grades of Twisted Pair (TP) cabling defined by the EIA/TIA-568 standard. Category 3 is voice grade cable and can only be used in Ethernet networks (10BASE-T) to transmit data at speeds of up to 10 Mbps. Category 5 Cables One of five grades of Twisted Pair (TP) cabling defined by the EIA/TIA-568 standard. Category 5 can be used in Ethernet (10BASE-T) and Fast Ethernet networks (100BASE-TX) and can transmit data at speeds of up to 100 Mbps. Category 5 cabling is better to use for network cabling than Category 3, because it supports both Ethernet (10 Mbps) and Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps) speeds. Category 5e Cables One of five grades of Twisted Pair (TP) cabling defined by the EIA/TIA-568 standard. Category 5e can be used in Ethernet (10BASE-T), Fast Ethernet (100BASE-TX) and Gigabit Ethernet (1000BASE-T) networks, and can transmit data at speeds of up to 1000 Mbps. Category 6 Cables One of five grades of Twisted Pair (TP) cabling defined by the EIA/TIA-568-B standard. Category 6 can be used in Ethernet (10BASE-T), Fast Ethernet (100BASE-TX) and Gigabit Ethernet (1000BASE-T) networks, and can transmit data at speeds of up to 1000 Mbps. Client The term used to describe the desktop PC that is connected to your network. DHCP Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. This protocol automatically assigns an IP address for every computer on your network. Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0 contain software that assigns IP addresses to workstations on a network. These assignments are made by the DHCP server software that runs on Windows NT Server. Ethernet A LAN specification developed jointly by Xerox, Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation. Ethernet networks use CSMA/CD to transmit packets at a rate of 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps over a variety of cables. Ethernet Address See MAC address. Fast Ethernet An Ethernet system that is designed to operate at 100 Mbps. Gigabit Ethernet An Ethernet system that is designed to operate at 1000 Mbps.