The 100Base-T fast Ethernet (VME) board provides up to 100 Mbps transfer rate between systems. The board has a 6U form factor and is installed in a 9U carrier (see Figure 1-1). The 100Base-T board supports two independent PCI Mezzanine Cards (PMC). Each mezzanine card supports one autosensing 10/100Base-TX interface. Signals are brought to an RJ45 jack and connector plate which mount on the system I/O panel.
Compared with previous 10 Mbps Ethernet versions, the 100Base-T board produces a tenfold increase in the speed of the packets over the media system. However, the other important aspects of the Ethernet system including the frame format, the amount of data a frame may carry, and the media access control mechanism, are all unchanged.
 | Note: There are two versions of the 100Base-T board: a VMEbus board and a GIO bus board. The GIO bus board version installs into Indy® systems. This manual documents the VME board version. |
There are three media varieties specified for transmitting 100-Mbps Ethernet signals that meet IEEE approval:
100Base-T4
100Base-TX
100BaseFX
| Note: This upgrade uses the 100Base-TX implementation. |
The IEEE identifiers include three pieces of information. The first item, "100", stands for the media speed of 100-Mbps. The "BASE" stands for "baseband," which is a type of signaling. Baseband signaling simply means that Ethernet signals are the only signals carried over the media system. The third part of the identifier provides an indication of the segment type.
The "T4" segment type is a twisted-pair segment that uses four pairs of telephone-grade twisted-pair wire. The "TX" segment type is a twisted-pair segment that uses two pairs of wires and is based on the data grade twisted-pair physical medium standard developed by ANSI. The "FX" segment type is a fiber optic link segment that uses two strands of fiber cable and is based on the fiber optic physical medium standard developed by ANSI.
| Note: The 100Base-TX (100Base-T) system operates over two pairs of wires, one pair for receive data signals and the other pair for transmit data signals. |
The following systems support the 100Base-T VME board.
CHALLENGE L or XL
POWER CHALLENGE™ L or XL
Onyx deskside or rackmount systems
POWER Onyx™ deskside or rackmount systems
| Note: There is no support for alternate media interfaces, such as 100Base-T4, 100BaseFX and 100Base-VGAnyLan. There is also no support for an external MAC interface or Media Independent Interface (MII). |