what is wide area network

It can be private to connect parts of a business, or it can be public to connect smaller networks. In ca. Others, built by Internet service providers, provide connections from an organization's LAN to the Internet. Wide area networks are often established with leased telecommunication circuits. Wide area networks are often established with leased telecommunication circuits. A WAN connects different smaller networks, including local area networks (LANs) and metro area networks (MANs), so that computers and users in one location can communicate with computers and users in other locations. Since WANs, by definition, cover a larger distance than LANs, it makes sense to connect the various parts of the WAN using a virtual private network. On a smaller scale, a business may have a WAN that's comprised of cloud services, its headquarters, and branch offices. [citation needed] As of 2014[update], households are connected to the Internet with dial-up, asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL), cable, WiMAX, 4G[6] or fiber. WAN … Multiprotocol Label Switching replaced Frame Relay by improving protocol support for handling voice and video traffic in addition to normal data traffic. In essence, this mode of telecommunication allows a business to effectively carry out its daily function regardless of location. If a WAN combines two or more connection types—for example, if it uses MPLS circuits as well as T3 lines—it is considered a hybrid WAN. The acronym WAN is sometimes erroneously used to describe a wireless area network, though it's most often abbreviated as WLAN. Many WANs are built for one particular organization and are private. At each end of the leased line, a router connects the LAN on one side with a second router within the LAN on the other. Long-distance, point-to-point Ethernet links can also be used to build dedicated wide area networks. The Internet may be considered a WAN.[2]. Frame Relay became a popular choice for telecommunications companies in the United States during the 1990s, notably AT&T. Triple-play network services built on MPLS increased in popularity during the 2000s and eventually replaced Frame Relay. - Definition from WhatIs.com". A wide area network (WAN) is a large network of information that is not tied to a single location. You could think of the internet itself as one gigantic WAN. Older X.25 networks used 56 Kbps dial-up modem connections. T1 and T3 lines often support MPLS or internet VPN communications. Undersea cables are subject to sabotage and also unintentional breaks from ships and weather conditions. A wide area network (WAN) is a telecommunications network that extends over a large geographic area for the primary purpose of computer networking. How to Build a Career in Computer Networking and IT. Packets addresses in these ranges are not routable in the public Internet; they are ignored by all public routers. You can opt-out at any time. The speeds that people can currently use range from 28.8 kbit/s through a 28K modem over a telephone connection to speeds as high as 100 Gbit/s using 100 Gigabit Ethernet. A wide area network spans a large geographic area such as a city, state, or country. X.25 was an important early WAN protocol, and is often considered to be the "grandfather" of Frame Relay as many of the underlying protocols and functions of X.25 are still in use today (with upgrades) by Frame Relay.[4]. [8] Christos Santis, graduate student Scott Steger, Amnon Yariv, Martin and Eileen Summerfield developed a new laser that potentially quadruples transfer speeds with fiber optics. Additionally, encapsulated packets may be encrypted for the transmission across public networks to secure the data. [citation needed], The following communication and networking technologies have been used to implement WANs. Many businesses started using leased line WANs in the mid-1990s as the web and internet exploded in popularity. [1], Businesses, as well as schools and government entities, use wide area networks to relay data to staff, students, clients, buyers and suppliers from various locations across the world. [9], Computer network that connects devices across a large distance and area, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "A WAN Is a Wide Area Network. WANs are often built using leased lines. Many technologies are available for wide area network links. Disputes can arise between governments over ownership rights and network usage restrictions. The easiest way to understand a WAN is to think of the internet as a whole, which is the world's largest WAN. A WAN, or “Wide Area Network,” is a computer network designed to connect multiple smaller Local Area Networks (LANs). This distinction stems from the fact that common local area network (LAN) technologies operating at lower layers of the OSI model (such as the forms of Ethernet or Wi-Fi) are often designed for physically proximal networks, and thus cannot transmit data over tens, hundreds, or even thousands of miles or kilometres. Your home network is your LAN, and it is connected to your neighbors over a WAN, often managed by your Internet Service Provider. Academic research into wide area networks can be broken down into three areas: mathematical models, network emulation, and network simulation. These types of networks supported automated teller machines, credit card transaction systems, and some of the early online information services such as CompuServe. WANs are used to connect LANs and other types of networks together so that users and computers in one location can communicate with users and computers in other locations. New developments in technologies have successively increased transmission rates. Here's How They Work", "Welcome to the GitHub API Development and Support Board! These configurations are a cost-effective method to connect network branches but also have a faster method of transferring important data if needed. This framework protects communications between sites. ", "AT&T Completes Industry-Leading 400 Gb Ethernet Testing, Establishing A Future Network Blueprint for Service Providers and Businesses", "Increasing the information rates of optical communications via coded modulation: a study of transceiver performance", "A New Laser for a Faster Internet - Caltech", "What is WAN (wide area network)? A wide area network (WAN) is a telecommunications network that extends over a large geographic area for the primary purpose of computer networking. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wide_area_network&oldid=987041047, Articles needing additional references from July 2015, All articles needing additional references, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2019, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2014, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2018, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 4 November 2020, at 14:40. For more details, see our Privacy Policy. A wide area network (WAN) spans a large geographic area and often joins multiple local area networks (LANs) and/or metropolitan area networks (MANs). WAN connects different smaller networks, including local area networks (LANs) and metro area networks (MANs).