What is a network that connects computers and devices in a limited geographical area such as home, school office building or closely positioned groups of buildings?

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

There are mainly three types of computer networks based on their size:
1. Local Area Network (LAN)
2. Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
3. Wide area network (WAN)

1. Local Area Network (LAN)

• A local area network (LAN) is a network that connects computers and devices in a limited geographical area such as home, school, computer laboratory, office building, or closely positioned group of buildings.

• LAN’s enable the sharing of resources such as files or hardware devices that may be needed by multiple users.

• It is limited in size, typically spanning a few hundred meters, and no more than a mile.

• It is fast, with speeds from 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps.

• LAN’s can be either wired or wireless. Twisted pair, coax or fibre optic cable can be used in wired LAN’s.

• Nodes in a LAN are linked together with a certain topology. These topologies include: Bus ,Ring & Star

What is a network that connects computers and devices in a limited geographical area such as home, school office building or closely positioned groups of buildings?

Fig: LAN

2. Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

• A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a large computer network that usually spans a city or a large campus.

• 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.

• A MAN often acts as a high speed network to allow sharing of regional resources.

• Examples of MAN: Telephone company network that provides a high speed DSL to customers and cable TV network.

            

What is a network that connects computers and devices in a limited geographical area such as home, school office building or closely positioned groups of buildings?

Fig: MAN

3. Wide area network (WAN)

• WAN covers a large geographic area such as country, continent or even whole of the world.

• A WAN is two or more LANs connected together. The LANs can be many miles apart.

• To cover great distances, WANs may transmit data over leased high-speed phone lines or wireless links such as satellites.

• Multiple LANs can be connected together using devices such as bridges, routers, or gateways, which enable them to share data. 

• The world's most popular WAN is the Internet. 

What is a network that connects computers and devices in a limited geographical area such as home, school office building or closely positioned groups of buildings?

Fig: WAN

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