Definition of Open Data-link Interface (ODI) in Network Encyclopedia.

ODI stands for Open Data-link Interface, is a standard developed by Novell and Apple for defining the communication mechanism between network interface card (NIC) drivers and network protocols.

Open Data-link Interface (ODI) allows multiple NICs to be bound to multiple protocols, similar to the network driver interface specification (NDIS) standard. ODI is a legacy standard that was defined primarily for the Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) protocol on Novell NetWare 2. x and 3. x networks.

It resides in Layer 2, the Data Link layer, of the OSI model. This interface also enables one or more network drivers to support one or more protocol stacks.

Microsoft’s NWLink IPX/SPX-Compatible Transport supports ODI for backward compatibility.