Essential Guide to Telecommunications, The, Third Edition

LANs, MANs and WANs

The difference between LANs, MANs and WANs is the distance over which devices can communicate with others. See Table 1.4. As the name implies, a local area network is local in nature. It is owned by one organization and is located in a limited geographic area, usually a single building. In larger organizations, LANs can be linked together within a complex of buildings on a campus. Devices such as computers linked together within a city or metropolitan area are part of a metropolitan area network (MAN). Similarly, devices that are linked together between cities are part of a wide area network (WAN).

Table 1.4. LANs, MANs and WANs—What's the Difference?

Term	Definition
LAN (Local Area Network)	A group of devices, such as computers, ...