In the case of the splitter, this is the inlet since the inlet stream is broken into several outlet streams. In EnergyPlus, the HVAC system and plant form a network (technically, a graph). The individual pieces of equipment - the fans, coils, chillers, etc. - are connected together by air ducts and fluid pipes. While the concept sounds simple, there is often confusion around how Ethernet splitters work, what they can realistically do, and when they should be used instead of other networking. An Ethernet splitter takes advantage of the fact that 10MBit and 100Mbit Ethernet only use 4 wires, even though the cable (almost certainly) contains 8 wires. The splitter consists of two pieces (see picture): one is connected to each end of the existing cable, providing the appearance of two ports. Inside this splitter, the internal wiring splits the eight wires from a single Ethernet cable into two sets of four wires. Ethernet standards like 100 Mbps (Fast Ethernet) only require four wires to transmit data (two pairs of twisted wires), while Gigabit Ethernet requires all eight wires. These. This is the traditional splitter for Ethernet cable: a small, unpowered adapter that lets one Ethernet cable carry two 10/100 Mbps connections by re-wiring the pairs inside.