Abstract
This chapter examines recent developments in network interface cards (NIC) technology that can be effectively applied by network managers and local area network (LAN) administrators to enhance LAN performance. It provides an overview of the evolution of network adapters and computer bus technology. Most modern NIC designs are based upon the use of shared memory; however, with the introduction of the Peripheral Component Interconnect bus very rarely does a shared memory design achieve anywhere near the theoretical data transfer capability of the bus. The first generation of NICs primarily used I/O ports for data transfer. Although this technique was easy to implement, processor ports are relatively slow, limiting the data transfer capability of the NIC. By the late 1980s, most NIC manufacturers abandoned the use of I/O port data transfer. Shared memory significantly improves the data transfer capability of NICs as data in the NICs’ buffer becomes immediately accessible by the computer.
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