Full duplex gigabit-rate transceiver front-end and method operation

The present invention is generally directed to high-speed Ethernet local area networks (LANS) and, more specifically, to a full-duplex transceiver for use in a gigabit Ethernet network. A method for equalizing a signal in a transceiver includes receiving an analog signal and adaptively equalizing the analog signal in an adaptive equalization filter to produce an analog filtered signal. The method also includes converting the analog filtered signal to a digital signal, digitally adapting the digital signal in a digital finite impulse response (FIR) filter, and modifying at least one digital filter coefficient of the digital FIR filter according to a signal error associated with an output of the digital FIR filter. The method further includes providing the at least one modified digital filter coefficient of the digital FIR filter to an analog equalization controller. In addition, the method includes using the at least one modified digital filter coefficient of the digital FIR filter in the analog equalization controller to adaptively equalize the analog signal in the adaptive equalization filter.