(
Attached
Resource
Computer
NETwork) The first local area network (LAN) introduced in 1968 by Datapoint Corporation. Although ARCNET gave way to Ethernet for office networks, it is still used in industrial control applications.
Using the token passing access method, ARCNET connects up to 255 nodes in a star topology at 2.5 Mbits/sec over twisted pair or coax. ARCNET Plus offered 20 Mbits/sec but came out after Ethernet was becoming entrenched. Like Ethernet, ARCNET is a data link protocol that functions at layers 1 and 2 of the OSI model. See
token ring network,
data link protocol,
Ethernet and
OSI model.