- A local area network
(LAN) spans a
small geographic area
(e.g., within a building).
LANs connects a limited number of computers (you don't usually put
hundreds of thousands of computers in one building....)
Not surprising, the technology used to build LANs is broadcast
(cheap).
- A metropolitan area network
(MAN) spans a medium geographic scale
area (e.g., within a city).
Example:
DQDB
(Distributed Queue Dual Bus)
NOTE:
nowadays, because switches
are so cheap,
MAN architectures are not discussed/researched at all,
so I will leave it at that...
- A wide area network (WAN) spans a
large
geographic scale area
(e.g., between state, a country, between
countries...)
WANs are built using
switching technology
(i.e., WANs are always switched networks).
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