During the 1970s, modems were made out of various analogue components without 'smart' control features. It was not until 1981 that the first microprocessor-controlled modems came onto the market. In the modems used today, nearly everything has been replaced by a fingernail-sized chip with more computing power than a mainframe of the 1970s. Apart from control functions, they also perform complex digital-signal processing. This has resulted in modems falling to a fraction of their previous size and weight, while speeds have multiplied many times.

PCMCIA ethernet, DMV-11 serial card. Fore 155 Mbit/s ATM (1991)

ISA bus cards: DCA sync card, 2400 bit/s modem

Token-Ring card (PCA), Univac serial cards