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Data terminal equipment refers to hardware that allows communication over a data line, including ATMs, personal computers, and centralized network components. It moves information from one source to another via a network or telephone system, and can include routers, hubs, and switches. The definition is vague, but items like bank ATMs, telephones, and fax machines are always considered data terminal equipment.
Data terminal equipment is telecommunications or networking hardware that allows communication over a data line. There are several items routinely referred to by this name, ranging from ATMs to personal computers. In all cases, these different elements are a place where information enters or leaves a machine. To further expand the scope of the term, some companies use it to refer to any centralized network hardware component, such as a switch or router.
Data is information, but it doesn’t matter what the source, content or purpose of the information may be. A terminal is any machine that connects to a data transmission system. In the past, this was a telephone line, but modern terminals can have a network, cellular or satellite connection.
The central point of a data terminal equipment is the transmission of information. In most cases, these elements move information from one human source to another human source via a network or telephone system. For example, one person might write a message on their computer and fax it to another person. The computer that sent the fax and the fax machine that received it are data terminal equipment, and the network and/or telephone line that transferred the information are data circuit terminating equipment.
Some companies expand the scope of this term to encompass the hardware that information encounters as it travels. This definition includes routers, hubs and switches. In these cases, the information is considered to be at its endpoint when it reaches the hardware. The hardware will process the information and send it back; this is new information that has the same content as the previous broadcast.
What is and is not data terminal equipment is often very vague. For example, in the case of a personal computer, the whole thing is the data terminal. The keyboard, mouse and monitor are just as much a part of the terminal as the main system and network interface.
Some items, simply by virtue of how they function, are almost always counted as this type of equipment. Bank ATMs accept and distribute information and are linked to the bank that supports them. These machines do things like verify account information and fund totals, which would be impossible without a data connection. The same goes for telephones and fax machines; without connection to a telecommunication system, they perform no function whatsoever.
