What is the difference between Ethernet and Serial communication? - Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/31171/what-is-the-difference-between-ethernet-and-serial-communication
Ethernet to Serial Communications Module
This Ethernet to Serial Communications Module converts TCP packets to Serial data and vise versa. This device can be configured to automatically close the socket after a programmable timeout or to leave the socket open. A blue LED light indicates an open socket connection. Program the Baud Rate of this Device from 9600 to 115.2K Baud and communicate to this device over the default TCP port 2101. This device also supports Static IP Addresses, DHCP, and has the ability to recover back to factory default settings with a simple press of a button.
Microsoft Word - serialguide2.doc https://www.azeotech.com/dl/serialguide.pdf
DAQFactory can communicate with a wide variety of devices with serial (RS232/422/485) and Ethernet connections. This guide explains how to start communicating with your device and how to create a protocol to interpret the language your device speaks. Since serial and Ethernet communications are done almost identically, we’ll simply refer to it as serial communications. Ethernet is actually a serial technique, meaning bits of data are sent over the wire one after another. There are additional layers with Ethernet handled by your operating system and your hardware, but as far as DAQFactory is concerned, Ethernet, RS232, RS-422 and RS-485 are pretty much identical. This allows you to apply any protocol to either serial or Ethernet ports.