front end processor (FEP)
In themainframe architecture, computing power for users was requested from the mainframe via non-intelligent terminals, the dumb terminals. The non-intelligent terminals were clustered via cluster controllers and connected to a mainframe via a channel port.
Historically, the front-end processor or communications pre- computer evolved from the host systems by offloading network control functions such as address management, routing, transport protocols, etc., into separate computer systems called frontends. Application programs do not normally run on these frontends.
The network components physically and logically connected to the front-end processor, such as concentrators, subordinate computers, clusters and terminals, are controlled by means of specified transmission procedures. The front-end processor manages the jobs in a queue, supplies the individual computer accounts with the jobs, monitors the computer nodes and archives the results. In SNA architectures, the communication computer is a subarea node.