CSMA/CD or Carrier Sense Multiple Access / Collision Detect, is a mechanism of standard Ethernet technology that resolves network access, in the event that two or more devices try and communicate at the same time. If multiple devices try and transmit information at the same time, the data becomes corrupted. This is known as a collision. This collision is detected by all transmitting devices on the network. As a result they all stop and generate a random time delay. After this time period the device that had the shortest time wins access to the network. This process is referred to as CSMA/CD.
