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A bridge is a device that operates at the Data Link Layer of the OSI model. It
selectively forwards frames based on an examination of the Data Link Layer addresses in
the frames. Any device that fits this description is acting as a transparent bridge.
This definition has an important implication: A bridge doesn't care what upper layer protocols
are being used. A bridge will forward packets correctly whether they are NetWare, TCP/IP,
AppleTalk, or even DECnet. As long as the bridge has the right kind of NIC, it can forward
properly. Because of this quality, bridges are said to be protocol independent.