Monday, 7 January 2013

Network Technologies Based on Scale

Based on scale networks are classified into
1.    Local area network(LAN)
2.    Metropolitan area network(MAN)
3.    Wide area network(WAN)

Local Area Network (LAN)

A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects computers in a limited area such as a home, school, or office building using network media. LAN is normally private owned. These are use to exchange information and to share resources (both hardware and software). The defining characteristics of LANs, in contrast to other networks, include their size, transmission technology and topology.

The most common LAN topology is bus, ring and star.

Metropolitan Area Network

A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a computer network that usually spans a city or a large campus. It may be a single network or it may be means of connecting a number of LANs into larger network so that resources may be share. Cable TV network is an example of MAN.

There exist a standard for MAN, that is DQDB (Distributed Queue Dual Bus) or IEEE 802.6

Wide Area Network (WAN)

A Wide Area Network is a network that covers a large geographical area may comprise a country, continent or even the whole world. WAN allows transmission of data and information across a large geographical area. 

The Internet

The Internet collection of networks or network of networks that consists of millions of private, public networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. The networks are connecting through suitable hardware and software in seamless manner.
The basic difference between WAN and Internet is that WAN is owned by single organization while Internet is not so.


2 comments:

  1. In the definition of "The Internet" you should have include difference between "internet" and "Internet". internet consist of hundreds of network but Internet consist of hundreds of thousands of networks.

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    1. ya we use Internet (with capital I) to represent global Internet.

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