Computer Science · Ch 10 — Computer Networks
Wide Area Network (WAN)
Wide Area Network (WAN)
Wide Area Network (WAN)
A Wide Area Network is the largest scale of computer network. It connects computers and other networks — including Local Area Networks (LANs) and Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) — that are spread across vast geographical distances. These distances can cover an entire country, different countries, or even different continents.
A WAN is not built from scratch using individual computers alone. Instead, it is formed by connecting existing LANs to other LANs. This connection happens through wired or wireless media, using networking devices such as switches and routers. For example, a company with offices in Delhi and Shimla can connect its separate LANs in each city to form a single WAN. The textbook illustrates this with Figure 10.7, showing LAN 1 in Delhi and LAN 1 in Shimla linked through the Internet.
Large organisations — businesses, educational institutions, and government bodies — rely on WANs to connect their different branches located across the world. This allows employees, students, and officials in different locations to share data, communicate, and access centralised resources seamlessly. …
Drawn by us to help you understand the concept clearly, and verified to make sure it's accurate. For exams, practice from your textbook's own diagram.
A Wide Area Network (WAN) is the largest kind of network — it connects LANs that are far apart, even in different cities. Here, one LAN in Delhi and another in Shimla each connect through their own Network Switch, and those switches reach each other through the Internet — the biggest WAN of all, shown here as a cloud containing the servers that make the connection possible. …