Microsoft networking protocols (including TCP/IP) communicate with network card drivers using the Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS). Windows NT Server version 4.0 uses NDIS version 4.0. The following figure illustrates the NDIS interface and the layers below the NDIS interface.
Figure 6.2 NDIS Interface
The NDIS interface (Ndis.sys) provides basic services used by the protocol modules. The protocol driver uses the NDIS interface to send raw data packets over a network device and to receive notification of incoming packets received by the NIC. NDIS allows the protocol components to function independently of the NIC.
Any NDIS-compliant protocol driver can communicate with any NDIS-compliant NIC.