2.7 - Network Types

Question 1

LAN

Answer 1

• Local Area Network - Local is relative
• A building or group of buildings
• High-speed connectivity
• Ethernet and 802.11 wireless
• Any slower and it isn’t “local”

Question 2

WAN

Answer 2

• Wide Area Network - Spanning the globe
• Generally connects LANs across a distance
• And generally much slower than the LAN
• Many different WAN technologies
• Point-to-point serial, MPLS, etc. - Terrestrial and non-terrestrial

Question 3

PAN

Answer 3

• Personal Area Network
• Your own private network
• Bluetooth, IR, NFC
• Automobile
• Audio output
• Integrate with phone
• Mobile phone
• Wireless headset
• Health
• Workout telemetry, daily reports

Question 4

MAN

Answer 4

• Metropolitan Area Network
• A network in your city
• Larger than a LAN, often smaller than a WAN
• Historically MAN-specific topologies
• Everyone’s moving to Metro Ethernet
• Common to see government ownership
• They “own” the right-of-way

Question 5

WMIN

Answer 5

• Wireless mesh network
• All devices connect together
• A mesh “cloud”
• Self form - Connects to each other automatically
• Self heal - Reacts automatically to changes
• Many different network technologies
• 802.11, Zigbee, Z-Wave, etc.