Click here

contention

(1) Competition for resources. The term is used especially in networks to describe the situation where two or more nodes attempt to transmit a message across the same wire at the same time.

(2) A type of network protocol that allows nodes to contend for network access. That is, two or more nodes may try to send messages across the network simultaneously. The contention protocol defines what happens when this occurs. The most widely used contention protocol is CSMA/CD, used by Ethernet. Also see polling and token passing.



Top Terms
  • 1

    enterprise application

    An enterprise application is the term used to describe applications -- or software -- that a business would use to assist the organization in...

    Read more »

  • 2

    open source

    Generically, open source refers to a program in which the source code is available to the general public for use and/or modification from its...

    Read more »

  • Click Here!

Connect with Webopedia

Did You Know? Archive »

  • Quick Reference Archive »