Understanding Cisco Networking Technologies, Volume 1

Chapter 10Wide Area Networks

 The Cisco IOS supports a ton of different wide area network (WAN) protocols that help you extend your local LANs to other LANs at remote sites. And all of us know just how essential information exchange between disparate sites is these days! But it wouldn’t be cost effective or efficient to install your own cable and connect all of your company’s remote locations yourself, would it? A much better way to get this done is to just lease the existing installations that service providers already have in place.

This is exactly why I’m going to devote most of this chapter to covering the various types of connections, ...