Connectivity · Local Networks
Ethernet Speed Standards
From 10 Mbps to 800 Gbps: the IEEE standard that quietly scaled 80,000×.
- Early steps 10×; recent steps 2–4×
- 1980 DIX spec, IEEE ratified in 1983
- AI clusters now run on 400–800 GbE links
- 1.6 Tbps in standardisation
Ethernet has scaled from 10 Mbps in 1980 to 800 Gbps, an 80,000× increase in 44 years, through a series of IEEE 802.3 standard generations, many of them 10× jumps. The 1980 original was a DIX (Digital-Intel-Xerox) consortium spec; IEEE ratified its own 802.3 three years later. Originally a shared coaxial bus for office networks, it evolved through twisted pair, fibre, and now optical interconnects to become the backbone of every datacenter. The modern AI training cluster runs on 400 Gbps and 800 Gbps Ethernet links between GPUs. Terabit Ethernet (1.6 Tbps, IEEE 802.3dj) is still in standardisation.
| Year | Value | Note | Projected |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 10 Mbps | 10BASE5 (DIX spec, pre-IEEE) | |
| 1990 | 10 Mbps | 10BASE-T twisted pair | |
| 1995 | 100 Mbps | Fast Ethernet (100BASE-TX) | |
| 1999 | 1,000 Mbps | Gigabit Ethernet | |
| 2002 | 10,000 Mbps | 10 Gigabit Ethernet | |
| 2010 | 100,000 Mbps | 100 GbE | |
| 2017 | 400,000 Mbps | 400 GbE | |
| 2024 | 800,000 Mbps | 800 GbE ratified (802.3df-2024) | |
| 2026 | 1,600,000 Mbps | 1.6 Tbps in standardisation | yes |