Differentiate between LAN, MAN, & WAN

Classification of Network

How are LAN, MAN, and WAN different?
- The main differentiation among these classifications is their area of coverage.

Networks typically are classified as:

a) LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LAN)
b) METROPOLITAN AREA NETWORK (MAN)
c) WIDE AREA NETWORK (WAN)

a) Local Area Network :

- The simplest form of LAN is to connect two computers together or connection of the computers and devices in the office or home.

- A network which consists of less than 500 interconnected devices across several buildings, is still recognized as a LAN.

Characteristic of LAN :

There are essentially five components of a LAN :
- Network devices such as Workstations, printers, file servers which are normally accessed by all other computers.
- Network Communication Devices i.e., devices such as hub, routers, switches etc used for network connectivity.
- Network Interface Cards (NICs) for each network device required to access the network. It is the interface between the machine and the physical network.
- Cable as a physical transmission medium.
- Network Operating System, software applications required to control the use of network operation and administration.

Advantages:
- Easy to share devices (printers, scanners, external drives)
- Easy to share data (homework, pictures)
- Cost of LAN Setup is low.
- Sharing of resources such as printers hence cost effective.

Disadvantages:
- Power - a good LAN is required to be on all the times.
- Security - each computer and device become another point of entry for undesirables.
- If all computers running at once, can reduce speed for each.
- Area covered is limited.

b) Metropolitan Area Network :

- A MAN is optimized for a larger geographical area than a LAN, ranging from several blocks of buildings to entire cities.

- A MAN might be owned and operated by a single organization, but it usually will be used by many individuals and organizations.
- MAN can span up to 50km, devices used are modem and wire/cable.
- Example of MAN :

• Traffic Light Monitoring System
• Cable Network TV
• Surveillance System
• Building in a city

Characteristic of MAN :

Advantages:
- Efficiency and shared access.
- All the computer-owning residents of the area have equal ability to go on line.

Disadvantages:
- It can be costly (hardware, software, support, etc.)
- Security problems.
- As the network consists of many computers over the span of a city, the connection can lag or become quite slow.

c) Wide Area Network :

- A WAN is a network that covers a large geographic area (such as a city, country, or the world) using a communications channel that combines many types of media such as telephone lines, cables, and radio waves.

WANs have the following characteristics:
- They can cover a very large geographical area : states, countries ,continents.
- They usually communicate at slower speeds (compared to LANs and MAN).
- Communication medium used are satellite, public telephone networks which are connected by routers.
- Routers forward packets from one to another a route from the sender to the receiver

Advantages:
- Messages can be sent very quickly to anyone else on the network.
- Everyone on the network can use the same data. This avoids problems where some users may have older information than others.
- Share information/files over a larger area.


Disadvantages:
- Setting up a network can be an expensive and complicated experience.
- Security problems because exposed to viruses and hackers.
- Maintenance problems. Large enterprises will dedicate personnel to maintaining their WAN.