Communications control system with a serial communications interface and a parallel communications interface

A process comprising:

• coupling a plurality of input/output modules with a control module;
• connecting the plurality of input/output modules to the control module in parallel for transmitting information between the plurality of input/output modules and the control module;
• and
• separately connecting the plurality of input/output modules to the control module for transmitting information between the plurality of input/output modules and the control module, and transmitting information between individual ones of the plurality of input/output modules.

A communications control system comprising:

• a control module;
• a plurality of input/output modules coupled with the control module;
• a multidrop bus configured for connecting the plurality of input/output modules to the control module in parallel, the multidrop bus configured for transmitting information between the plurality of input/output modules and the control module;
• and
• a cross switch configured for separately connecting the plurality of input/output modules to the control module, the cross switch configured for transmitting information between the plurality of input/output modules and the control module, and transmitting information between individual ones of the plurality of input/output modules.