concentrator
A type of multiplexor that combines multiple channels onto a single transmission medium in such a way that all the individual channels can be simultaneously active. For example, ISPs use concentrators to combine their dial-up modem connections onto faster T-1 lines that connect to the Internet.
Concentrators are also used in local-area networks (LANs) to combine transmissions from a cluster of nodes. In this case, the concentrator is often called a hub or MAU.
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