Dishwasher: Lan adapter

Friday, 4 January 2013

Lan adapter

A network interface controller (also known as a network interface card, network adapter, LAN adapter and by similar terms) is a computer hardware component that connects a computer to a computer network.[1]

Early network interface controllers were commonly implemented on expansion cards that plugged into a computer bus; the low cost and ubiquity of the Ethernet standard means that most newer computers have a network interface built into the motherboard.The network controller implements the electronic circuitry required to communicate using a specific physical layer and data link layer standard such as Ethernet, Wi-Fi or Token Ring. This provides a base for a full network protocol stack, allowing communication among small groups of computers on the same LAN and large-scale network communications through routable protocols, such as IP.

Madge 4/16 Mbit/s TokenRing ISA-16 NIC

Although other network technologies exist (e.g. token ring), Ethernet has achieved near-ubiquity since the mid-1990s.

Every Ethernet network controller has a unique 48-bit serial number called a MAC address, which is stored in read-only memory. Every computer on an Ethernet network must have at least one controller. Normally it is safe to assume that no two network controllers will share the same address, because controller vendors purchase blocks of addresses from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and assign a unique address to each controller at the time of manufacture.[2]