1. In data transmission
   Data transmission
   Data transmission, digital transmission, or digital communications is the physical transfer of data over a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint communication channel. Examples of such channels are copper wires, optical fibres, wireless communication channels, and storage media...
   
   , a functional unit that permits a common path
   Data link
   In telecommunication a data link is the means of connecting one location to another for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information. It can also refer to a set of electronics assemblies, consisting of a transmitter and a receiver and the interconnecting data telecommunication circuit...
   
    to handle more data sources than there are channels currently available within the path. A concentrator usually provides communication capability between many low-speed, usually asynchronous channels and one or more high-speed, usually synchronous
   Synchronization
   Synchronization is timekeeping which requires the coordination of events to operate a system in unison. The familiar conductor of an orchestra serves to keep the orchestra in time....
   
    channels. Usually different speeds, codes, and protocols can be accommodated on the low-speed side. The low-speed channels usually operate in contention
   Contention
   Contention may refer to:* The main contention, in rhetoric, the main point being argued* Resource contention, a general concept in communications and computing, is competition by users of a system for the facility at the same time:...
   
    and require buffering.
2. A device that connects a number of links with only one destination, the main function of this device is to make a kind of load balancing between two or more servers connected together, data distribution is done according to the server processing rate.
3. A patch panel
   Patch panel
   A patch panel or patch bay is a panel, typically rackmounted, that houses cable connections. One typically shorter patch cable will plug into the front side, whereas the back holds the connection of a much longer and more permanent cable...
   
    or other component in the cable plant where cable runs converge.
4. ISP
   Internet service provider
   An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
   
    usually use concentrators to enable modem dialing, this kind of concentrator is sometimes called a modem concentrator or a remote access concentrator.

See also

• Ethernet hub
  Ethernet hub
  An Ethernet hub, active hub, network hub, repeater hub or hub is a device for connecting multiple Ethernet devices together and making them act as a single network segment. A hub works at the physical layer of the OSI model. The device is a form of multiport repeater...
  
  
• Oxygen concentrator
  Oxygen concentrator
  An oxygen concentrator is a device providing oxygen therapy to a patient at minimally to substantially higher concentrations than available in ambient air. They are used as a safer, less expensive, and more convenient alternative to tanks of compressed oxygen. Common models retail at around US$800...
  
   (Medical application)
• Remote concentrator
  Remote concentrator
  In modern telephony a remote concentrator, Remote Concentrator Unit , or Remote Line Concentrator is the lowest level in the telephone switch hierarchy.Subscribers' analogue telephone/PSTN lines are terminated on concentrators...
  
  
• Concentrating solar power (Energy application)