The invention of intelligent switches, satellites, fibre optic cables, and LAN cards has brought internet to reality. For all the people who do not understand the meaning of a wide area network, internet is good example of such a wide area network. However, to understand wide are network (WAN) better, one must first understand a local area network (LAN).
A local area network is one, which is built in a limited area with the use of LAN cables, switches, and LAN cards. A very common example of local area network is a network of a university, or a business office. All the computers are connected to a network switch in a local area network. This local area network can be a workgroup (share limited resources), or domain (share all kind of resources, and services). If the local area network is a domain, then you have the authority to allow the users to share all the resources, or limit them to a few services. LAN has one restriction, it cannot be extended to a wide area, and therefore, WAN is needed in this situation to connect institutions, and offices at different locations.
With the help of devices like routers, it is very convenient to connect two or more LANs to form a WAN. A wide area network can be built in many ways. One way is to lay down your own cables between two or more locations to form a WAN, and the other way is that you can use a leased line for the same purpose. The most preferred way, used by most of the companies is the use of leased line, as it saves a cost of thousands of pounds.
The businesses and institutions get leased lines from different service providers and pay them on monthly basis. Today, many companies are establishing Virtual Private Network (VAN) by using leased lines. A VAN can be established by buying Live IPs from the service provider, at two or more different locations. To secure this network, the Network Administrator uses routers and firewalls to secure the network.
On WAN, the users at different locations are connected to a central server. The name of this computer is server because it is there to serve all the computers on the network. All the computers on the network are connected to central database on the server. These computers save data at real time, send queries to server and fetch reports at the same time. The banking system is a very good example of a WAN network.
The benefits of a Wide area network are unlimited. You sit in one country, and the office in the other country is just like a room next door. You can share documents, reports, prints, query databases, search through thousands of records in just quick seconds, monitor distant location offices by using digital cameras and do much more. The advantages of a Wide area network are infinite; it is up to you what benefits you want to get using this technology; the sophistication obviously increases with the cost factor.
With many advantages of Wide area network, there are also some disadvantages associated, which though can be addressed by using latest technologies. On WAN, the security is a big factor. When you connect on the internet using Live IPs, anyone can intrude in and hack your system. For this purpose, firewalls and routers securities are implemented, which definitely come with on the expense of thousands pounds. The latency period on WAN is high, but it can also be addressed by taking high speed internet connections. To establish a WAN network, the businesses and institutions need a lot of money, as technologies that make your network secure s well as serve your needs are very costly.
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