Integrated communication unit

An integrated communication unit, comprising:

• a housing, a motherboard, a RJ45 interface, and an SPI (serial peripheral interface), said motherboard and said RJ45 interface being accommodated in said housing, and said housing having at least one opening with a height and width thereof corresponding to the RJ45 standard;
• said motherboard including a microcontroller having a middleware, said middleware having a GOAL (generic open abstraction layer), said RJ45 interface providing a cable-based connection to an external control unit, said SPI interface for coupling to a further SPI interface of an application unit, said SPI interface configured for receiving application data of the application unit and providing the application data to said microcontroller by transmission, said microcontroller configured for processing the application data and providing the application data to an external control unit via said RJ45 interface, the integrated communication unit being configured for being mounted on a printed circuit board of the application unit by THT (through-hole technology) or SMT (surface-mounted technology).