(NDIS) A Microsoft Windows device driver programming interface allowing multiple
protocols to share the same
network hardware.
E.g.
TCP/IP and
IPX on the same
NIC. NDIS can also be
used by some ISDN adapters.
A protocol manager accepts requests from the
transport layer
and passes them to the
data link layer (routed to the
correct network interface if there is more than one).
NDIS was developed by
Microsoft and
3COM.
Novell offers
a similar device driver for NetWare called Open Data-Link
Interface (ODI).
The NDIS 2.0 specification was 5000 lines.
Latest version: NDIS 5.0, as of 2000-10-30.
http://microsoft.com/hwdev/devdes/ndis5.htm.
cdrom.com NDIS archive.
["3TECH, The 3COM Technical Journal", Winter 1991].