Hardware / MAC address is the unique serial number burned into Ethernet network cards that identifes that network card from all others. This address is in form of 12 hexadecimal digits, such as 00601E012345.

MAC address is usually printed on network card or equipment. After installing a network card into a computer, it is easy to find its MAC address out. Please click on a button for a particular operating system to show how to find it. For other network equipment or operating system, please refer to its user manual.

Commonly called a "NIC" (network interface card) or simply network card, is a printed circuit board that plugs into both the clients (personal computers or workstations) and servers and controls the exchange of data between them.

MAC is the protocol that controls access to the physical transmission medium on a LAN. MAC layer functionality is built into the network adapter and includes a unique serial number that identifies each card.

The MAC address can tell which vendor made the network adapter. The first three bytes of the six-byte field is called the OUI and is administered by the IEEE. E.g, 00-60-1D (hex) is used by Lucent Technologies and 00-01-43 (hex) is for Cisco Systems, Inc.

It means 16. The base 16 numbering system is used as a shorthand for representing binary numbers. Each half byte (four bits) is assigned a hex digit as shown in the following chart with its decimal and binary equivalents. Hex values are identified with an "h" or dollar sign, thus $3E0, 3E0h and 3E0H all stand for the hex humber 3E0.