Patton (News - Alert) Electronics recently posted a good introductory video to their CopperLink Ethernet Extenders.

Way, way back (way back) in 2001, the Gaithersburg, Maryland-based company announced the release of the Model 2158 CopperLink Ethernet Extenders, described at the time as a tool for overcoming the distance limitations of Ethernet and extending the reach of your network connections up to 4,500 feet on a single twisted-pair of voice-grade wire.

We’ve come a long way since then, yes. In fact, as TMC’s (News - Alert) John Lahtinen wrote almost exactly one month ago, Patton announced that it is now taking orders for the new, U.S.-manufactured CopperLink 2174 series of ultra-high-speed Ethernet Extender, with initial shipments expected in October.

And in this case, the device achieves downstream line rates up to 168 Mbps. Try finding that capability in a similar offering ten years ago.

“It’s another industry first for Patton,” said Johnnie Grant, product manager for Patton’s CopperLink line, according to Lahtinen. “Our latest innovation takes Ethernet farther and faster than ever before. The variety of hardware interfaces combined with extreme combinations of speed and distance make our 2174 the most versatile Ethernet extender in the world.”

The video does a good job discussing what Ethernet extension is in the first place, and putting this product within that context. “Ethernet,” as the video says, “is becoming the most common network interface due to its low cost standards-based interfaces. PCs, workstations, info kiosks and Points of Sale all have Ethernet ports.” In fact, the video says, “the most natural transport for IP is Ethernet.”

And if you don’t think there are critical real-life functions that depend on Ethernet, well, the video notes that even though The King is dead, the Elvis Presley Estate lives on. They wanted to put a camera in Elvis’s bedroom at Graceland, so fans could go on www.elvis.com, look out the bedroom window, and see what Elvis saw. But the problem was they had to drill a hole in the wall of what has become a designated historical building.

So Patton explained how they used category 3 cable -- Elvis had a phone by his bed -- to connect the camera.

There you go. How much more critical can you get?