Networking Self-Teaching Guide: OSI, TCP/IP, LANs, MANs, WANs, Implementation, Management, and Maintenance

Chapter 2. LANs, MANs, and WANs

	This is my LAN; that is your LAN; we are joined at the MAN, but I am also connected to a WAN. . .from sea to shining sea.
	--The authors

Digital data communications has changed rapidly and continues to evolve due to the demand of many types of "data consumers." High-speed data communications is no longer the preferred network of only large companies; everyday consumers use these networks for various forms of communication—voice, text, video, and teleconferencing. The past decade has seen a convergence of a wide range of services utilizing the public network simply referred to as the Internet.

The term Internet covers a wide range of network devices and services offered by a wide range of companies commonly referred to as the telecommunications industry. This chapter discusses local area networks (LANs), metropolitan area networks (MANs), and wide area networks (WANs). The topics will be discussed in this order, but it is not meant to imply that this was the evolutionary process in networking technology. In reality, it is perhaps more like WANs, LANs, and then MANs. However, there have been areas of overlap where the evolution of all three occurred simultaneously.

The quote above is trying to give a sense of the relationship between LAN, MAN, and WAN. Some LAN networks are a personal thing, like my LAN at home. It is mine, all mine, and not to be shared with others.^[68] Strategically speaking, a LAN is owned by a person or small group, but it is fairly ...