Have you taken a look at two
NIC cards?
The PS4
NIC card is several years older than the X1
NIC card.
So for disambiguation, people would call it a NIC,
a NIC Card, or sometimes a Network Card, and they'd often incorrectly call one thing by a different name in a meaningless way, because if you were on Netware - S, your CPU was your Controller.
My worst (in that I hate it) is when I hear «
NIC CARD» — the C stands for card.
All in all, objection to «
NIC Card» was valid for less than 17 years, too short to even be a valid climate timespan.
68000's had a cooperative multitasking capacity that meant they didn't need
a NIC Card at all.
It's all angels dancing on the head of a pin, and complaining that
NIC Card is redundant depends on a narrow lumpen version of the full story.
Since about 2007 (when a later round of patents were granted), NIC more properly means Network Interface Chip, or Network Interface Circuit (part of a card with other circuits), and «
NIC Card» is once again useful to disambiguate what is meant.
Not exact matches
That does not change the fact that since the dawn of the PC age (generally accepted to coincide with the release of the IBM PC),
NIC has stood for Network Interface
CARD.
EtherNet
cards were the first commercial
NIC - on - one -
card units generally available, although others claim earlier, or rival, or «more like a real
NIC» candidates.
Hardware: Cisco 2600 series switches and routers, Cisco Pix 515E Firewalls, Juniper firewalls, PBX, Netgear and Belkin Switches and Hubs, HP, Compaq and Dell Laptops and Workstations, Raid Configurations, SCSI,
NIC, Memory, Smart
Cards, Video, TV Tuner, Printers, Scanners and other peripherals.
Terms such as «Ethernet ready,» «network compatible,» or «with an
NIC (network interface
card) adapter» indicate that the hardware is ready for networking.