Short for Attached Resource Computer network, ARCnet was developed by Datapoint Corporation in San Antonio, Texas. It was defined as a group of nodes that communicates to one another over a geographically-limited area usually within one building or a campus of buildings.
It was the simplest, and least expensive type of local-area network. It used a token-ring architecture, supported data rates of 2.5 Mbps, and connected up to 255 computers. A special advantage of ARCnet is that it permitted various types of transmission media to be mixed on the same network: twisted-pair wire (Max. extension 150 meters), coaxial cable (650 m.) and fibre optic cable (2.000 m.)