The FC-132ETH is an advanced Ethernet control gateway and serial communication matrix, capable of plug and play deployment over a customer Ethernet LAN. Serving as an advanced serial communication matrix, the FC-132ETH has 32 RS-232 and one RS-232/RS-485 output ports. Serial communication data is switchable to one or more of the eight RS-232 input ports. This can be done according to local control of panel buttons or RS-232 control port, or remote control via Ethernet port control protocol or web-page browsing. Depending on matrix routing, one-to-one bidirectional or one-to-many unidirectional serial switched communication is supported. Serving as a control gateway, FC-132ETH is capable of remote bidirectional control of customer-controlled devices serially connected to its 32 RS-232 and one RS-232/RS-485 input ports. Multiple control clients can be IP-connected to the FC-132ETH control gateway for concurrent control of two RS-232 or RS-485 controllable devices, such as AV scalers, video displays, and audio amplifiers.