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Computer Network Types

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)

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 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).

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.

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.

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:
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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