Abstract: A communication system and method which automatically assign an appropriate emulated LAN (ELAN) domain to each attached end station. In the LAN emulation configuration server, an ATM address manager manages the associations between LAN stations and their relevant LAN emulation servers. When the identifier of a LAN station is given, it returns the ATM address of a suitable server for that station. To send such address requests, each LAN emulation client has an ATM address requesting unit. The ATM address requesting unit also requests the LAN emulation server to provide the ATM address of a broadcast server for the assigned ELAN. The obtained ATM addresses are stored and managed in an ELAN configuration database, together with the identifiers of stations and information about established network connections. Based on those operating parameters stored in the ELAN configuration database, a data communication unit conducts communication sessions between peer LAN stations.