Front end processor

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A front end processor, also called a communications processor, is a device which interfaces a number of peripheral devices, such as terminals, disk units, printers and tape units, to the host computer. Data is transferred between the host computer and the front end processor, using a high-speed parallel interface. The front end processor communicates with peripheral devices using slow speed serial interfaces. The purpose of the front end processor is to off-load the work of managing the peripheral devices from the host computer, allowing it to concentrate on running applications software. The front end processor provides the interface between the host computer and the data communications network, which comprises all the terminals and other host computers. Two examples are the IBM 3705 Communications Controller and the Burroughs Data Communications Processor.

Front end processor is also used in a more general sense in asymmetric multi-processor systems. The FEP is a processing device (usually a computer) which is closer to the input source than is the main processor. It performs some task such as telemetry control, data collection, reduction of raw sensor data, analysis of keyboard input, etc.