Ethernet is a widely used local area network technology that uses coaxial cable or twisted pair wires. Advanced versions include switched Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet. Fast Ethernet operates at 100 Mbps using 4B/5B encoding. Gigabit Ethernet provides speeds of 1000 Mbps and maintains backward compatibility with previous Ethernet standards. It uses 8B/10B encoding and leverages technologies from Fibre Channel.