type of networks

Local Area Network, a network consisting of a single site or area.

Metropolitan Area Network, a network spanning across two or more geographically close sites linked by a high speed link, such as a college campus or congested business center.

Wide Area Network, a network spanning large distances, usually using leased (telco) links.

The definitions ar getting quite fuzzy (I know, not what you wanted to hear) but loosely it's as follows:
1. Lan: A computer network that spans a relatively small area. This means usually one building of buildings that are close together.

2. Wan: A collection of two or more LANs connected via telephone lines or radio waves (Microwave).

3. Man: A network designed for a town or city.
Larger than a LAN, Smaller than a WAN. MANs are usually characterized by very high-speed connections (DS1-DS3+)

As you can see,.. wan and man are a little "flexible" in theior definition. One can be smaller than the other and vice-versa. Either one can use the other's topology. It's getting to be a grey area.

Hi,

All the above answers are correct. It's pretty
vague for clear definitions of each of those.

Anyways, here's my def :-

1. LAN is present in WAN and MAN
2. WAN might not or might be present in a MAN

LAN - Any workstations connected where they can
share resources and acheive a certain
objective together can be called a LAN.

For LAN in Texas to communicate with another
LAN in Vegas, they need to communicate thru
WAN. (lease lines, ISDN)

WAN - Connectivity between LANs thru dedicated
lines or PSTN

MAN - For LAN in Texas & Vegas (which is part of
US WAN) to communicate with their branch
offices in Japan and China, they would need
to get those WAN in Japan and China to
connect to WAN in US which makes up the MAN.

Well, these are layman terms. Hopefully you can
get a betta picture of this. This is not entirely
true if we were to go into technical details hence
they layman terms.

Cheers
A

You own and control everything about your LAN.
You depend on public providers (Internet) with a WAN.
Defining a MAN is just an opportunity for sexist jokes.

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