What Does Data Communications Equipment (DCE) Mean?

Data communications equipment (DCE) refers to computer hardware devices used to establish, maintain and terminate communication network sessions between a data source and its destination. DCE is connected to the data terminal equipment (DTE) and data transmission circuit (DTC) to convert transmission signals.

Techopedia Explains Data Communications Equipment (DCE)

A modem is a typical example of data communications equipment. In general, data communications equipment is used to perform signal exchange, coding and line clocking tasks as a part of intermediate equipment or DTE.