Computer Network Types

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A computer network is a group of computers linked to each other that enables the
computer to communicate with another computer and share their resources, data, and
applications.

A computer network can be categorized by their size. A computer network is mainly of four
types:

LAN(Local Area Network)

PAN(Personal Area Network)

MAN(Metropolitan Area Network)

WAN(Wide Area Network)

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LAN(Local Area Network)
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Local Area Network is a group of computers connected to each other in a small area
such as building, office.

LAN is used for connecting two or more personal computers through a

communication medium such as twisted pair, coaxial cable, etc.

It is less costly as it is built with inexpensive hardware such as hubs, network adapters,
and ethernet cables.

The data is transferred at an extremely faster rate in Local Area Network.

Local Area Network provides higher security.

PAN(Personal Area Network)

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Personal Area Network is a network arranged within an individual person, typically

within a range of 10 meters.

Personal Area Network is used for connecting the computer devices of personal use is
known as Personal Area Network.

Thomas Zimmerman was the first research scientist to bring the idea of the Personal
Area Network.

Personal Area Network covers an area of 30 feet.

Personal computer devices that are used to develop the personal area network are
the laptop, mobile phones, media player and play stations.

There are two types of Personal Area Network:

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Wired Personal Area Network

Wireless Personal Area Network

Wireless Personal Area Network: Wireless Personal Area Network is developed by simply
using wireless technologies such as WiFi, Bluetooth. It is a low range network.

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Wired Personal Area Network: Wired Personal Area Network is created by using the USB.

Examples Of Personal Area Network:

Body Area Network: Body Area Network is a network that moves with a person. For
example, a mobile network moves with a person. Suppose a person establishes a
network connection and then creates a connection with another device to share the
information.
 Offline Network: An offline network can be created inside the home, so it is also
known as a home network. A home network is designed to integrate the devices such
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as printers, computer, television but they are not connected to the internet.

Small Home Office: It is used to connect a variety of devices to the internet and to a
corporate network using a VPN

MAN(Metropolitan Area Network)

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A metropolitan area network is a network that covers a larger geographic area by

interconnecting a different LAN to form a larger network.

Government agencies use MAN to connect to the citizens and private industries.

In MAN, various LANs are connected to each other through a telephone exchange
line.

The most widely used protocols in MAN are RS-232, Frame Relay, ATM, ISDN, OC-3,
ADSL, etc.

It has a higher range than Local Area Network(LAN).

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Uses Of Metropolitan Area Network:

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MAN is used in communication between the banks in a city.

It can be used in an Airline Reservation.

It can be used in a college within a city.

It can also be used for communication in the military.

WAN(Wide Area Network)
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A Wide Area Network is a network that extends over a large geographical area such
as states or countries.

A Wide Area Network is quite bigger network than the LAN.

A Wide Area Network is not limited to a single location, but it spans over a large
geographical area through a telephone line, fibre optic cable or satellite links.

The internet is one of the biggest WAN in the world.

A Wide Area Network is widely used in the field of Business, government, and
education.
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Examples Of Wide Area Network:

Mobile Broadband: A 4G network is widely used across a region or country.

Last mile: A telecom company is used to provide the internet services to the
customers in hundreds of cities by connecting their home with fiber.

Private network: A bank provides a private network that connects the 44 offices. This
network is made by using the telephone leased line provided by the telecom
company.

Advantages Of Wide Area Network:

Following are the advantages of the Wide Area Network:

Geographical area: A Wide Area Network provides a large geographical area. Suppose
if the branch of our office is in a different city then we can connect with them through
WAN. The internet provides a leased line through which we can connect with another
branch.

Centralized data: In case of WAN network, data is centralized. Therefore, we do not

need to buy the emails, files or back up servers.
 Get updated files: Software companies work on the live server. Therefore, the
programmers get the updated files within seconds.
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Exchange messages: In a WAN network, messages are transmitted fast. The web
application like Facebook, Whatsapp, Skype allows you to communicate with friends.

Sharing of software and resources: In WAN network, we can share the software and
other resources like a hard drive, RAM.

Global business: We can do the business over the internet globally.

High bandwidth: If we use the leased lines for our company then this gives the high
bandwidth. The high bandwidth increases the data transfer rate which in turn
increases the productivity of our company.

Disadvantages of Wide Area Network:

The following are the disadvantages of the Wide Area Network:

Security issue: A WAN network has more security issues as compared to LAN and
MAN network as all the technologies are combined together that creates the security
problem.

Needs Firewall & antivirus software: The data is transferred on the internet which can
be changed or hacked by the hackers, so the firewall needs to be used. Some people
can inject the virus in our system so antivirus is needed to protect from such a virus.

High Setup cost: An installation cost of the WAN network is high as it involves the
purchasing of routers, switches.

Troubleshooting problems: It covers a large area so fixing the problem is difficult.

Internetwork

An internetwork is defined as two or more computer network LANs or WAN or

computer network segments are connected using devices, and they are configured by
a local addressing scheme. This process is known as internetworking.

An interconnection between public, private, commercial, industrial, or government

computer networks can also be defined as internetworking.

An internetworking uses the internet protocol.

The reference model used for internetworking is Open System Interconnection(OSI).

Types Of Internetwork:
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1. Extranet: An extranet is a communication network based on the internet protocol such

as Transmission Control protocol and internet protocol. It is used for information sharing.
The access to the extranet is restricted to only those users who have login credentials. An
extranet is the lowest level of internetworking. It can be categorized as MAN, WAN or other
computer networks. An extranet cannot have a single LAN, atleast it must have one
connection to the external network.

2. Intranet: An intranet is a private network based on the internet protocol such as

Transmission Control protocol and internet protocol. An intranet belongs to an
organization which is only accessible by the organization's employee or members. The
main aim of the intranet is to share the information and resources among the organization
employees. An intranet provides the facility to work in groups and for teleconferences.

Intranet advantages:

Communication: It provides a cheap and easy communication. An employee of the

organization can communicate with another employee through email, chat.

Time-saving: Information on the intranet is shared in real time, so it is time-saving.

Collaboration: Collaboration is one of the most important advantage of the intranet.

The information is distributed among the employees of the organization and can only
be accessed by the authorized user.

Platform independency: It is a neutral architecture as the computer can be

connected to another device with different architecture.

Cost effective: People can see the data and documents by using the browser and
distributes the duplicate copies over the intranet. This leads to a reduction in the cost.

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