A local area network system including a data transfer communication network for transferring data between plural sending and receiving nodes, and a control information communication network separate and independent of the data transfer communication network for exchanging control information between the sending and receiving nodes, whereby the overhead associated with a packet switching communication mechanism in order to distinguish between addresses or commands for each packet is remarkably decreased. According to the invention, once the connection link is established between the sending and receiving nodes, the transmission of data is completely independent of exchanging control information so that the time required to transfer data is independent of the load on the communication bus and the number of packets to be sent.