from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
Ethernet address
<networking> (Or "{MAC} address") The physical address
identifying an individual {Ethernet controller} board. An
Ethernet addess is a 48-bit number aabbccddeeff where a-f are
{hexadecimal} digits. The first 24 bits, aabbcc, identify the
manufacturer of the controller. The Ethernet address is
hard-wired on some controllers, stored in a {ROM} on some, and
others allow it to be changed from software. It is usually
written as six hexadecimal numbers, e.g. 08:00:20:03:72:DC.
See also {ARP}, {Internet address}.
(1996-02-21)