GoKawiilRetro-tech explainer revisits IBM's Token Ring networking standard
A technology retrospective recounts the history of Token Ring, the IBM-backed networking standard introduced on October 15, 1985, which competed with Ethernet through the 1980s and 1990s. The piece explains that while Token Ring avoided collisions by passing a single token between systems and handled network saturation well, it required all cards to run at the same speed and was ultimately outcompeted by cheaper, open-standard Ethernet equipment.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The comparison illustrates how cost and openness, rather than pure technical merit, can determine which standard wins adoption in a market, since the author notes Ethernet was roughly a third the price of Token Ring despite debates over whether it was technically inferior. The piece suggests that engineers today may misidentify old Token Ring hardware as Ethernet due to superficial similarities, underscoring how quickly once-dominant technologies fade from common knowledge.
- IBM introduced Token Ring on October 15, 1985, as a rival to Ethernet.
- Token Ring avoided data collisions via token-passing but required uniform speeds across all connected cards.
- Ethernet ultimately won market dominance largely due to being roughly three times cheaper than Token Ring.
Source: dfarq.homeip.net — Dave Farquhar, 2026-10-16
Published there as: “What was a Token Ring network?”
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