Xerox invented Ethernet networking technology at its Palo Alto Research Center (Xerox PARC).
In the early 1970s, Xerox PARC researchers Robert Metcalfe and David Boggs developed Ethernet to connect Xerox Alto workstations over a shared coaxial cable. Their design adapted ideas from ALOHAnet, an earlier wireless network created at the University of Hawaii, but added methods for detecting channel use and handling collisions.
The name “Ethernet” appeared in a 1973 memo by Metcalfe. The first working system ran at Xerox PARC on May 22, 1973, connecting Alto computers. Metcalfe and Boggs later patented the technology, while Xerox worked with Digital Equipment Corporation and Intel to create the widely adopted 10-megabit DIX standard.
A common mix-up is crediting 3Com or Intel. 3Com, founded by Metcalfe in 1979, helped commercialize Ethernet, and Intel helped standardize and manufacture networking hardware. Xerox PARC was the company research lab where Ethernet itself was invented.