Fast ethernet
There are two Fast Ethernet standards
1. 100BaseT family
2. 100AnyLAN

100BaseT
It operates at 10 times the speed of the regular 10BaseT Ethernet yet it can be seamlessly integrated into existing Ethernet installations to deliver high bandwidth performance where its needed. Its rapidly becoming the standard for todays LAN. It provides a cost effective solution for the network bottlenecks created by the growing volumes of data generated by todays more powerful pcs and bandwidth intensive apllications. Fast ethernet together with 32 and 64 bit PCI bus architectures extends the power of high performance desktop PC onto the LAN.

Challenges
Compatibilty and Interoperabilty
It was adopted in june 1995 by IEEE 802.3 commitee and has a multivedor support and retains the familiar Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection (CSMAD/CD) protocol which enables data to move between Ethernet and Fast ethernet nodes on the LAN without protocol translation.Fast Ethernet also retains same CAT 5 cabling support as Ethernet

Planning Installation and Maintenance
A technology for evolving networks that may be experiencing bandwidth problems. fast ethernet is a cost effective migration path if you have ethernet already. Since it is based on the Ethernet standard you can use the same CAT5 cabling and do not need protocol translation between nodes to increase bandwidth by 10 times.