Networking of PCs has been developed for all levels, from local to international, in diverse sectors of society. Examples are networks used by government organizations for rapid retrieval of information from database at central locations. Natworks are used by banks and retail merchants for the transfer of funds or credit verification. PCs used corporate offices to get information of activities at its branch offices,etc. The following are the types of computer networks :
A LAN (Local Area Network) connects network devices over a relatively short distance. A networked office building, school, or home usually contains a single LAN, though sometimes one building will contain a few small LANs (perhaps one per room), and occasionally a LAN will span a group of nearby buildings. In TCP/IP networking, a LAN is often but not always implemented as a single IP subnet. In addition to operating in a limited space, LANs are also typically owned, controlled, and managed by a single person or organization.
As the term implies, a WAN (Wide Area Network) spans a large physical distance. The Internet is the largest WAN, spanning the Earth. A WAN is a geographically-dispersed collection of LANs. A network device called a router connects LANs to a WAN. In IP networking, the router maintains both a LAN address and a WAN address.
MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) is a larger area than that of a LAN and smaller area as compared to WAN. It connects two or more computers that are apart but resides in the same or different cities. It covers a large geographical area and may serve as an ISP (Internet Service Provider). MAN is designed for customers who need a high-speed connectivity. Speeds of MAN ranges in terms of Mbps. It’s hard to design and maintain a Metropolitan Area Network.
VAN (Value-Added Network) is a communication channel leased from a telephone company to offer customers with modems access to network services through a local or toll-free number.
It is a high-speed network that connects various LAN segments. these LANs should be interconnected with a backbone, each pair of LAN segments can communicate without passing through a third-party LAN segment.
(Campus Area Networks) The computers are within a limited geographic area, such as a campus or military base.
(Home Area Networks) It is a network contained within a user's home that connects a person's digital devices.
Wireless Communication - In these networks, transmission media includes includes infrared light, radio channels, microwave radio, cellular telephone systems and satellite relays. Here, the transmission rates vary with the media, from under 1 Mbit/sec up to Gbit/sec range for satellite relays.
Network Topology is the schematic description of a network arrangement, connecting various nodes (sender and receiver) through lines of connection.Read More
ATM (Asynchronous Transmission Mode) communicates with cells rather than transmitting frames. ATM cells can be encapsulated in other protocols.Read More
TCP/IP is an industry-standard protocol suit for Wide Area Networks (WANs) developed in the 1970s and 1980 by the U.S Department of Defense (DoD).Read More
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