medium access control

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

Media Access Control
Medium Access Control

   <networking> (MAC) The lower sublayer of the {OSI} {data link
   layer}.  The interface between a {node}'s {Logical Link
   Control} and the network's {physical layer}.  The MAC differs
   for various physical media.

   See also {MAC Address}, {Ethernet}, {IEEE 802.3}, {token ring}.

   [What does it do?  Examples?]

   (1996-01-29)