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The most probable setup of the network may be, for example, the data transfer from the remote devices using Terminal Servers to a network router. The network router then manages the incoming data. If the network router or (some of) the remote devices and the Trimble 4D Control Server computer are running within a computer network (Internet or a Wide Area Network similar to the Internet), you can use this network for the communication between Trimble 4D Control Server and the devices.
The mechanism employed for communication on a Wide Area Network (for example, Frame Relay) is known as "TCP/IP Protocol" and one of its major applications is the Internet. TCP/IP is a standardized way of connecting two applications on different computers and to exchange information and data between them. Therefore, it is required that each computer has a unique address ("IP address") within the network of computers it is running. This network can, for example, be a Local Area Network (LAN, for example within a company) or the Internet.
Once a communication partner is located using its IP address, there is also the need to correctly identify the application program on that computer, to which one wants to "talk" to. Within the TCP/IP communication standard this addressing is done using "IP port numbers". The port number again has to be unique within its environment, meaning each application which uses TCP/IP communication on the computer must use different port numbers.
Moreover, the TCP/IP communication is realized as a "client - server" concept. One of the two communicating applications must be configured to take on the role of the server, which is continuously waiting for others to connect to its IP port. The other application is the client (possibly one of multiple clients) who connects to the server's IP port.