Token-ring networks operate at a higher speed than ethernet networks. The topology of this network is a ring instead of a line. Computers are attached to this ring. These kind of networks use an access technology known as token passing. The main feature of token-passing systems is that they provide fair access right to transmit messages to all computers attached by having turns. At any time, only one machine holds a token which grants that machine the right to send a packet. After sending a packet, the machine passes the token to the next machine in sequence, and so on. Thus, when none of the machines has anything to send, they continously pass the token around; when they all have packets to send, they take turns sending them.

Physically, the ring network is not a continous wire, it consists of point to point connections among the host computers on the network. At each host, one wire carries incoming signals and another carries outgoing signals.
 
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