TYPES OF AREA NETWORKS – LAN, MAN AND WAN

The Network allows computers to connect and communicate with different computers via any
medium. LAN, MAN and WAN are the three major types of the network designed to operate
over the area they cover.

LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LAN)

It is a privately-owned network and stands for local area network.
A LAN is a group of computers and devices that are in a specific location. The devices connect
to the LAN with an Ethernet cable or through Wi-Fi.
A LAN differs from other types of computer networks (like the internet) in that the devices
connected to the LAN are in the same building such as a home, school, or office. These
computers, printers, scanners, and other devices connect to a router with an Ethernet cable or
through a wireless router and a Wi-Fi access point. Multiple LANs can be connected over a
telephone line or radio wave.
The data rates for LAN range from 4 to 16 Mbps with the maximum of 100 Mbps.
LANs can be distinguished from different types of networks by their size, their transmission
technology, their topology and their protocol.
A Communication medium used for LAN has twisted pair cables and coaxial cables. It covers a
short distance, and so the error and noise are minimized.

FEATURES OF LAN

❖ Every computer has the potential to communicate with any other computers of the
network
❖ High degree of interconnection between computers
❖ Easy physical connection of computers in a network
❖ Inexpensive medium of data transmission
❖ High data transmission rate

METROPOLITAN AREA NETWORK (MAN)

A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a network with a size greater than LAN but smaller than a
WAN. It normally comprises networked interconnections within a city that also offers a connection
to the Internet.
FEATURES OF MAN

❖ Network size generally ranges from 5 to 50 km. It may be as small as a group of

buildings in a campus to as large as covering the whole city.
❖ Data rates are moderate to high.
❖ In general, a MAN is either owned by a user group or by a network provider who sells
service to users, rather than a single organization as in LAN.
❖ It facilitates sharing of regional resources.
❖ They provide uplinks for connecting LANs to WANs and Internet.

Example of MAN

❖ Cable TV network
❖ Telephone networks providing high-speed DSL lines
❖ IEEE 802.16 or WiMAX, that provides high-speed broadband access with Internet
connectivity to customer premises.

WIDE AREA NETWORK

A wide area network (WAN) is a computer network that covers a large geographical area
comprising a region, a country, a continent or even the whole world. WAN includes the
technologies to transmit data, image, audio and video information over long distances and among
different LANs and MANs.
FEATURES OF WAN
❖ WANs have a large capacity, connecting a large number of computers over a large area,
and are inherently scalable.
❖ They facilitate the sharing of regional resources.
❖ They provide uplinks for connecting LANs and MANs to the Internet.
❖ Communication links are provided by public carriers like telephone networks, network
providers, cable systems, satellites etc.
❖ Typically, they have low data transfer rate and high propagation delay, i.e. they have low
communication speed.
❖ They generally have a higher bit error rate.

Example of WAN
• The Internet
 INTRANET

An intranet is a private network that allows employees and staff in an enterprise to securely
share knowledge and information easily within the company or organization. Information, tools,
directories, and services available on a company’s intranet are typically unavailable to the
general public. The prefix "intra" implies that an intranet is designed for internal
communications only. Intranets are usually restricted to specific local area networks (LANs) or
wide area networks (WANs).

With an intranet, a system admin assigns and manages the rights and permissions of persons to
access the company’s in-house server controls.

EXTRANET

An extranet is a private network that leverages internet technology and public telecommunication
system to share part of a business's information or operations over a secure system with
suppliers, vendors, partners, customers, or other businesses. An extranet is often considered part
of a company's intranet that is extended to authorized users outside of the organization.

Extranet access (or a customer portal) is generally restricted to external users and enabled
through a VPN.

VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK

A VPN is a layer 3 encrypted connection between the client and a host. The setup uses an
asymmetric key exchange with a random element, to avoid any replay attacks.

Allows teleworkers to connect to a remote network. An example is a home worker with Internet
access uses his/her corporate laptop to establish a secure connection to the office. Once the VPN
tunnel is established, the teleworker has full access to the office resources (file server, printers,
email etc).

WIRELESS LAN (WLAN)

WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) helps you to link single or multiple devices using
wireless communication within a limited area like home, school, or office building. It gives users
an ability to move around within a local coverage area which may be connected to the network.
Today most modern day's WLAN systems are based on IEEE 802.11 standards.
LAN TRANSMISSON METHODS, TECHNOLOGIES AND PROTOCOLS
1) LAN TRANSMISSION METHODS
LAN data transmissions fall into three classifications: unicast, multicast, and broadcast. In each
type of transmission, a single packet is sent to one or more nodes.

1. In a unicast transmission, a single packet is sent from the source to a destination on a

network.
2. A multicast transmission consists of a single data packet that is copied and sent to a
specific subset of nodes on the network.
3. A broadcast transmission consists of a single data packet that is copied and sent to all
nodes on the network.

2) LAN PROTOCOL

LAN protocols typically use one of two methods to access the physical network medium: carrier
sense multiple access collision detect (CSMA/CD) and token passing.

In the CSMA/CD media-access scheme, network devices contend for use of the physical
network medium. CSMA/CD is therefore sometimes called contention access. Examples of
LANs that use the CSMA/CD media-access scheme are Ethernet/IEEE 802.3 networks,
including 100BaseT.

In the token-passing media-access scheme, network devices access the physical medium based
on possession of a token. Examples of LANs that use the token-passing media-access scheme are
Token Ring/IEEE 802.5 and FDDI.

3) LAN TECHNOLOGIES

ETHERNET
Ethernet is the most popular physical layer LAN technology in use today. It defines the number
of conductors that are required for a connection, the performance thresholds that can be
expected, and provides the framework for data transmission. A standard Ethernet network can
transmit data at a rate up to 10 Megabits per second (10 Mbps).

Ethernet is popular because it strikes a good balance between speed, cost and ease of installation.
These benefits, combined with wide acceptance in the computer marketplace and the ability to
support virtually all popular network protocols, make Ethernet an ideal networking technology
for most computer users today.

The Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers developed an Ethernet standard known as
IEEE Standard 802.3. This standard defines rules for configuring an Ethernet network and also
specifies how the elements in an Ethernet network interact with one another. By adhering to the
IEEE standard, network equipment and network protocols can communicate efficiently.

FAST ETHERNET
The Fast Ethernet standard (IEEE 802.3u) has been established for Ethernet networks that need
higher transmission speeds. This standard raises the Ethernet speed limit from 10 Mbps to 100
Mbps with only minimal changes to the existing cable structure. Fast Ethernet provides faster
throughput for video, multimedia, graphics, Internet surfing and stronger error detection and
correction.

There are three types of Fast Ethernet: 100BASE-TX for use with level 5 UTP cable; 100BASE-
FX for use with fiber-optic cable; and 100BASE-T4 which utilizes an extra two wires for use
with level 3 UTP cable. The 100BASE-TX standard has become the most popular due to its
close compatibility with the 10BASE-T Ethernet standard.

Network managers who want to incorporate Fast Ethernet into an existing configuration are
required to make many decisions. The number of users in each site on the network that need the
higher throughput must be determined; which segments of the backbone need to be reconfigured
specifically for 100BASE-T; plus what hardware is necessary in order to connect the 100BASE-
T segments with existing 10BASE-T segments. Gigabit Ethernet is a future technology that
promises a migration path beyond Fast Ethernet so the next generation of networks will support
even higher data transfer speeds.

GIGABIT ETHERNET
Gigabit Ethernet was developed to meet the need for faster communication networks with
applications such as multimedia and Voice over IP (VoIP). Also known as “gigabit-Ethernet-
over-copper” or 1000Base-T, GigE is a version of Ethernet that runs at speeds 10 times faster
than 100Base-T. It is defined in the IEEE 802.3 standard and is currently used as an enterprise
backbone. Existing Ethernet LANs with 10 and 100 Mbps cards can feed into a Gigabit Ethernet
backbone to interconnect high performance switches, routers and servers.

From the data link layer of the OSI model upward, the look and implementation of Gigabit
Ethernet is identical to that of Ethernet. The most important differences between Gigabit
Ethernet and Fast Ethernet include the additional support of full duplex operation in the MAC
layer and the data rates.

10 GIGABIT ETHERNET
10 Gigabit Ethernet is the fastest and most recent of the Ethernet standards. IEEE 802.3ae
defines a version of Ethernet with a nominal rate of 10Gbits/s that makes it 10 times faster than
Gigabit Ethernet.

Unlike other Ethernet systems, 10 Gigabit Ethernet is based entirely on the use of optical fiber
connections. This developing standard is moving away from a LAN design that broadcasts to all
nodes, toward a system which includes some elements of wide area routing. As it is still very
new, which of the standards will gain commercial acceptance has yet to be determined.
ASYNCHRONOUS TRANSFER MODE (ATM)
ATM is a cell-based fast-packet communication technique that can support data-transfer rates
from sub-T1 speeds to 10 Gbps. ATM achieves its high speeds in part by transmitting data in
fixed-size cells and dispensing with error-correction protocols. It relies on the inherent integrity
of digital lines to ensure data integrity.

ATM can be integrated into an existing network as needed without having to update the entire
network. Its fixed-length cell-relay operation is the signaling technology of the future and offers
more predictable performance than variable length frames. Networks are extremely versatile and
an ATM network can connect points in a building, or across the country, and still be treated as a
single network.

POWER OVER ETHERNET (POE)

PoE is a solution in which an electrical current is run to networking hardware over the Ethernet
Category 5 cable or higher. This solution does not require an extra AC power cord at the product
location. This minimizes the amount of cable needed as well as eliminates the difficulties and
cost of installing extra outlets.

TOKEN RING
Token Ring is another form of network configuration. It differs from Ethernet in that all
messages are transferred in one direction along the ring at all times. Token Ring networks
sequentially pass a “token” to each connected device. When the token arrives at a particular
computer (or device), the recipient is allowed to transmit data onto the network. Since only one
device may be transmitting at any given time, no data collisions occur. Access to the network is
guaranteed, and time-sensitive applications can be supported. However, these benefits come at a
price. Component costs are usually higher, and the networks themselves are considered to be
more complex and difficult to implement. Various PC vendors have been proponents of Token
Ring networks.