The NCE acts as a communication bridge between a master central unit that communicates via TCP/IP and the field bus nodes (controllers/active supply air devices/other control units) in the building that communicate via CAN bus. A connected communication loop (CAN) can consist of up to 100 nodes, depending on how many functions are activated locally on the loop and from the master system. Each NCE can handle 2 CAN loops (CAN1 and CAN2).

Similarly, the NCE can alternatively be used as a communication bridge between a CAN loop and another master system that communicates via Modbus-RTU or Modbus-TCP. A maximum of 100 nodes can be mirrored across CAN1 and CAN2 in total.