cmHSSIDTEDCE is a read-only enumeration reporting whether this HSSI port is currently operating as a DTE or a DCE device. An administrator checks this to confirm the port's role matches the cabling and connected equipment, since a HSSI link requires one DTE and one DCE end to function. For example, if two directly connected HSSI ports both report cmHSSIDTEDCE as dte, the operator would recognize a role mismatch preventing the link from establishing.