What is a Network? What are its types?

 

What is a Network? What are its types?

A Network is defined as group of computers connected together to share the resources (hardware and software) with two principle benefits: the ability to communicate and the ability to share.

LAN [Local Area Network]: supplies networking capability to a group of computers in close proximity to each other such as in an office building, a school or a room. It is useful for sharing resources like files, printers, games or other applications.

WAN [Wide Area Network]: spans a large geographical area such as a state, province o country. The world’s most popular WAN is the Internet.

MAN [Metropolitan Area Network]: spans a physical area larger than a LAN but smaller than a WAN, such as a city.

CAN [Campus Area Network]: spans multiple LANs but smaller than a MAN, such as on a university or college campus.

PAN [Personal Area Network]: set up for personal/non-commercial usage.

SAN [Storage Area Network]: connects servers to data storage devices.

HAN [Home Area Network]: set up at home to connect multiple devices.

WLAN [Wireless LAN]: a LAN based on Wi-Fi or wireless network technology.