In the fully-automated factories of today, automated end-to-end component production is kept going 24/7 using computer aided design and manufacturing programs (CAD/CAM) which directly communicate with computer numerical control (CNC) tool stations. Many CNC networks are further managed by distributed numerical control (DNC) servers. The evolution of DNC communications has been from uploading data using floppy disks on to delivering updates using serial data interfaces. Now, however, Ethernet networks offer much more rapid data transfers, and CNCs that once communicated over serial data links are now being linked to Ethernet networks using special device servers that translate Ethernet communications from the DNC into serial signals that may be received by the CNC machine station.