Media Access Control

What Does Media Access Control Mean?

Media access control (MAC) is a sublayer of the data link layer (DLL) in the seven-layer OSI network reference model. MAC is responsible for the transmission of data packets to and from the network-interface card, and to and from another remotely shared channel.

Techopedia Explains Media Access Control

The basic function of MAC is to provide an addressing mechanism and channel access so that each node available on a network can communicate with other nodes available on the same or other networks. Sometimes people refer to this as the MAC layer.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…

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