Skip to main content

Glossary

Technology evolves at a rapid-fire pace. That’s why we’ve built an easy-to-use glossary to help you better understand the terms, technologies and trends that impact your business.

Media Access Control (MAC)

A mechanism operating at the data link layer of local-area networks which manages access to the communications channel (medium). It forms the lower layer of the IEEE data link layer (OSI layer 2), which complements the logical link control (LLC). MAC is a media-specific protocol within the IEEE 802 specifications.