Console servers, such as the Secure Console Server series of products developed by thinklogical and older terminal servers provide serial port access for "headless" machines. Local access to these devices may be accomplished using a text or "dumb" terminal; however this is generally inconvenient considering the distributed nature of typical equipment deployments. Console servers offer safe, secure access and functionality, specifically designed to assist system and network administrators maximize uptime.

Users typically interact with computers using the keyboard, the mouse, and video. The acronym "KVM" stands for keyboard, video, mouse. The term was actually claimed to have been coined first by several companies who make keyboard video and mouse switches, extenders and IP access devices used primarily for machine administration functions.