Editing Acorn Archimedes (section)

=== Networking capabilities ===

The Archimedes was launched with provision for an optional Econet module to be installed, this module being the same as that used by the Master series.<ref name="acornuser198708_expansion">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser061-Aug87/page/n18/mode/1up | title=Plenty of room for expansion | magazine=Acorn User | date=August 1987 | access-date=30 June 2022 | pages=17 }}</ref> Acorn introduced Ethernet connectivity with the launch of the company's R140 Unix workstation, also offering expansion cards for Archimedes models. In 1992, Atomwide also introduced Ethernet cards for the traditional Archimedes expansion bus and for the internal expansion slot in the A3000. Ethernet could be used as faster medium for existing Econet-style networking, or the [[TCP/IP]] [[protocol stack]] could be employed instead. Acorn sought to introduce Econet functionality on top of Internet protocols with its Acorn Universal Networking (AUN) suite of technologies.<ref name="acornuser199204_networking">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser117-Apr92/page/n11/mode/1up | title=Faster Networking on the Arc | magazine=Acorn User | date=April 1992 | access-date=30 June 2022 | pages=10 }}</ref>

Numerous vendors offered Ethernet expansion cards, such as Ant Limited (via Atomwide), Digital Services, i-cubed, Oak Solutions, and Risc Developments. Although compatible with AUN, some of the cards offered support for vendor-specific enhancements such as Oak Solutions' ClassNet and Digital Services' NetGain.<ref name="acornuser199407_networking">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser144-Jul94/page/n34/mode/1up | title=It's optional | magazine=Acorn User | date=July 1994 | access-date=30 June 2022 | last1=Preston | first1=Geoff | pages=35–37 }}</ref> Other networking approaches were available, including the sharing of hard drives using a [[SCSI]] bus,<ref name="acornuser199102_scsi">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser103-Feb91/page/n11/mode/1up | title=SCSI Networks | magazine=Acorn User | date=February 1991 | access-date=30 June 2022 | pages=10 }}</ref> and emerging technologies such as [[Asynchronous Transfer Mode]] were deployed on the Acorn platform, notably in SJ Research's Nexus product.<ref name="acornuser199411_nexus">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser148-Nov94/page/n8/mode/1up | title=SJ's ATM secret | magazine=Acorn User | date=November 1994 | access-date=30 June 2022 | pages=9 }}</ref>