{"id":4393,"date":"2011-11-10T13:27:40","date_gmt":"2011-11-10T13:27:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/network-interface-card\/"},"modified":"2017-12-14T13:32:10","modified_gmt":"2017-12-14T13:32:10","slug":"network-interface-card","status":"publish","type":"definition","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/5306\/network-interface-card-nic","title":{"rendered":"Network Interface Card"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span id=\"what_does_network_interface_card_mean\">What Does Network Interface Card Mean?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>A Network Interface Card (NIC) is a computer hardware component that allows a computer to connect to a network. NICs may be used for both wired and wireless connections.<\/p>\n<p>A NIC is also known as a network interface controller (NIC), network interface controller card, expansion card, computer circuit board, network card, LAN card, network adapter or network adapter card (NAC).<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"techopedia_explains_network_interface_card\">Techopedia Explains Network Interface Card<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Most new computers have either Ethernet capabilities integrated into the motherboard chipset, or use an inexpensive dedicated Ethernet chip connected through the PCI or PCI Express bus. A separate NIC is generally no longer needed. If the card or controller is not integrated into the motherboard, it may be an integrated component in a router, printer interface or USB device.<\/p>\n<p>Typically, there is an LED next to the connector informing the user if the network is active or whether or not data is being transferred on it. Depending on the card or motherboard, transfer rates may be 10, 100, or 1000 Megabits per second.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Does Network Interface Card Mean? A Network Interface Card (NIC) is a computer hardware component that allows a computer to connect to a network. NICs may be used for both wired and wireless connections. A NIC is also known as a network interface controller (NIC), network interface controller card, expansion card, computer circuit board, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7813,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"definitioncat":[227,217,245,219,248],"class_list":["post-4393","definition","type-definition","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","definitioncat-data-management","definitioncat-hardware","definitioncat-internet","definitioncat-networks","definitioncat-networking-hardware"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.2 (Yoast SEO v24.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is a Network Interface Card (NIC)? - Definition from Techopedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Network Interface Card and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Network Interface Card\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This definition explains the meaning of Network Interface Card and why it matters.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/5306\/network-interface-card-nic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Techopedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/techopedia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-12-14T13:32:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@techopedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/5306\/network-interface-card-nic#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/5306\/network-interface-card-nic\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Margaret Rouse\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5dd538e31ee352d105b8af36c4268a5\"},\"headline\":\"Network Interface Card\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-10T13:27:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-12-14T13:32:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/5306\/network-interface-card-nic\"},\"wordCount\":175,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/5306\/network-interface-card-nic#respond\"]}],\"articleSection\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/5306\/network-interface-card-nic\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/definition\/5306\/network-interface-card-nic\",\"name\":\"What is a Network Interface Card (NIC)? 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