Data network design
An engineering approach to computer networking: ATM networks, the Internet, and the telephone network
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The term communication control unit was a generic term used in the 1980s to refer to a wide variety of devices that controlled the transmission and reception of data in computer networks. They ranged from complex units, such as front-end processors for mainframes, to simple units such as concentrators, terminal servers, or multiplexers of various kinds for transmission of data primarily over dedicated lines. The 1990s saw dramatic advances in data communications and the appearance of new generations of communication devices to build today's computer networks. They include various types of communication adapters, hubs, bridges, routers, and switches. Consequently, the term communication control unit is being replaced by two new generic terms: communication adapters, which interface computers and workstations (q.v.) to the network, and network electronics, which serve to deliver data over the network from source to destination.