In the world today, it has become essential for our computers and mobile devices to connect to various types of networks especially the internet. This becomes possible with the help of the network interface controller, which is computer hardware whose main function is to provide network connectivity to the computer. Earlier, network interface controllers came in the form of separate expansion cards called Network interface cards (NICs), which could be connected to the CPU. These network interface cards housed all the hardware that was required to provide a base for connecting to computer networks, be it a Local Area Network (LAN) or a Large-scale Network like the internet. A NIC deals with both the physical layer and the data link layer. So, while it serves as the hardware for the network connectivity, it is also the seat for some of the data link layer processes.
Network connectivity could be either wireless as with Wi-Fi or wired as with the Ethernet port. The NIC used to be directly inserted into the computer-bus. With the evolution of computers, however, network interface controllers started coming embedded onto the motherboard of the computer, especially in the case of laptops, which lowered the overall cost of production. Nowadays, it is not very often that one finds a separate network interface card in a computer. These are implemented only if some special type of connectivity other than Wi-Fi or Ethernet is desired. Dedicated Ethernet chips may be used for enabling Ethernet capabilities.
The NICs of computers connected together locally interact with each other using network switches to establish communication between them. In order to connect with computers on a different network (as on the internet), a network router is required that can direct the data packets to the desired destinations.
There are multi-queue Network interface controllers that receive and transmit data packets through distinct queues. Each of the receive queues is given a unique interrupt. An improvement in the performance of the NIC can be achieved by directing the various interrupt requests to different CPUs where the final application destinations of the network packets. This method is called Receive Side Scaling. This distribution of data can also be done completely on the software basis and is known as Receive Flow Steering.
The NIC for most of the desktop computers is integrated with the motherboard and is located at the back side of the CPU where all the other ports are available. In case the computer does not have an onboard NIC, an external Network card can also be installed at the PIC card slot.
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