An Ethernet crossover cable is a crossover cable for Ethernet used to connect computing devices together directly. It is most often used to connect two devices of the same type, e.g. two computers (via their network interface controllers) or two switches to each other. By contrast, straight through patch cables are used to connect devices of different types, such as a computer to a network switch. I. MotivationThe and Ethernet standards use one wire pair for transmission in each direction. This requires that the transmit pair of each device be connected to the receive pair of the device. Introduced in 1998, this made the distinction between uplink and normal ports and manual selector switches on older hubs and switches obsolete. If one or both of two connected devices has the automatic MDI/MDI-.