|  | 5.5 |
Collisions and Collision Domains in Shared Layer Environments
| 5.5.4 | Collisions as natural functions of shared media environments and collision domains
Normally, people think that collisions are bad because they decrease network performance. However, a certain amount of collisions are a natural function of a shared media environment (i.e. collision domain) because large numbers of computers are all trying to communicate with each other, at the same time, by using the same wire. The history of how Ethernet handles collisions and collision domains dates back to research at the University of Hawaii, and its attempts to develop a wireless communication system for the Islands of Hawaii. Researchers developed a protocol called Aloha, which was eventually instrumental in the development of Ethernet. The main graphic shows the Island of Hawaii and an Ethernet segment. Both are shared media environments; both are collision domains.