Different Types of Network
Networks are the foundation of modern business; they are used for everything from downloading attachments from emails to printing documents and accessing the internet. They may be categorized according to size and/or function, ranging from a few dozen units confined to one room to millions of devices dispersed over the world.
Current Network Types in Use
Network of Personal Areas (PAN)
A personal area network (PAN), the simplest and most fundamental kind of network, is centered on a single individual in a single building and consists of a wireless modem, one or more computers, phones, printers, tablets, etc. These networks are usually found in tiny homes or workplaces, and they are run from a single device by one person or group of people.
Two types of personal area networks exist:- Personal area network that is wireless: All it takes to create a wireless personal area network is the use of wireless technologies like Bluetooth and WiFi. This network has a short range.
Wired Personal Area Network: A USB is used to establish a wired PA network.
Network of Local Area (LAN)
We’re sure you’ve heard of these kinds of networks before. Local area networks, or LANs, are the most spoken about, most widely used, most inventive, and most basic kinds of networks. In order to exchange resources and information, local area networks, or LANs, link groups of computers and low-voltage devices together across small distances (inside a building or between two or three buildings near to one another). LANs are usually maintained and managed by enterprises.
Wide area networks (WANs, discussed below) may be connected to by LANs via routers, allowing for the quick and secure flow of data.
Network of Wireless Local Area (WLAN)
WLANs employ Wi-Fi and other wireless network technologies to operate similarly to a local area network. These networks, which are often used in applications similar to LANs, do not need physical connections for device connectivity.
Campus Wide Network (CAN)
These networks, which are bigger than LANs but smaller than metropolitan area networks (MANs, discussed below), are mostly found in colleges, large K–12 school districts, and small companies. To allow people to share resources, they may be dispersed over a few buildings that are somewhat near to one another.
Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) include components of both WANs and LANs; they are smaller than WANs but bigger than LANs. MANs cover a whole geographical region, usually a town or city, but sometimes a college. Either an individual or a business (such as a big corporation or the local municipality) is in charge of ownership and upkeep.
- Metropolitan Area Network Uses
- A city’s banks communicate with one another via MAN.
- It is compatible with airline reservations.
- It may be applied at a city college.
- In the military, it may also be utilized for communication.
Broadband Network (WAN)
Longer physical distances are connected between computers using WANs, which are a little more complicated than LANs. This makes it possible for computers and low-voltage devices to interact remotely with one another across a large network, even when they are located far away.
The simplest example of a wide area network (WAN) is the Internet, which links all computers on the planet. A WAN is usually owned and managed by many administrators or the general public because of its wide reach.
Wide Area Network Benefits
The benefits of a wide area network are as follows:
Regional area: A wide geographic region is provided via a wide area network. Assuming our office’s branch is located in a separate city, we may establish a WAN connection with them. We may link to another branch using a leased line that is made available via the internet.
Centralized data: With WAN networks, data is located in one place. As a result, we do not need to purchase any data, emails, or backup servers.
Obtain updated files: Live servers are used by software firms. As a result, the updated files reach the programmers in a matter of seconds.
Exchange messages: Messages travel quickly across a WAN network. You may chat with pals using online applications like Facebook, Whatsapp, and Skype.
Software and resource sharing is possible via WAN networks. This includes RAM and hard drives, among other resources.
International business: We are able to do international commerce online.
Broadband capacity: This provides a large bandwidth if our organization uses leased lines. Our company’s productivity rises as a result of the high bandwidth’s increased data transmission rate.
Broad Area Network Drawbacks
The Wide Area Network has the following drawbacks:
Security concern: Because all the technologies are merged to produce one security issue, WAN networks are more vulnerable to security breaches than LAN and MAN networks.
Requirements Antivirus and firewall software: Using a firewall is necessary because data is transported over the internet and is susceptible to hacking or alteration by hackers. Antivirus software is necessary to guard against viruses that might be injected into our systems by unscrupulous individuals.
Expensive setup: The WAN network installation is expensive as switches and routers must be purchased.
Fixing issues: Since it encompasses a wide region, solving the issue is challenging.
Storage-Area Network (SAN): These networks don’t depend on LANs or WANs; instead, they are specialized high-speed networks that link several servers to shared pools of storage devices. Rather, they relocate storage resources to their own high-performance network, off the network. The same methods that apply to a disk connected to a server also apply to SANs. Converged, virtual, and unified storage-area networks are among the several types of SANs.
System-Area Networks, or SANs for short
Within the last 20 years, this word has become quite popular. It is used to describe a relatively local network that is intended to provide high-speed connections for processor-to-processor, storage area networks (also known as “SANs”), and server-to-server applications (also known as cluster environments). A SAN allows the linked computers to function at extremely fast speeds as a single system.
Optical Local Area Network (POLAN) in Passive
POLAN technology may be included into structured cabling as an alternative to conventional switch-based Ethernet LANs in order to allay worries about supporting conventional Ethernet protocols and network applications like PoE (Power over Ethernet). In order to serve users and devices, POLAN, a point-to-multipoint local area network architecture, splits an optical signal from a single strand of singlemode optical fiber into numerous signals using optical splitters.
Enterprise Private Networks (EPNs) are developed and controlled by companies that want to exchange computer resources across their locations in a secure manner.
Virtual Private Network (VPN): A VPN allows its users to transmit and receive data as if their devices were connected to the private network even when they aren’t by extending a private network across the Internet. Remote access to a private network is possible for users via a virtual point-to-point.