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Exposure to Computer Disciplines



                   Notes
                                                            Figure 6.1: A LAN Network


























                                 6.1.2.2 Wide Area Network (WAN)

                                 A wide area network is a network where a wide variety of resources are deployed across a large
                                 domestic area or internationally. An example of this is a multinational business that uses a WAN
                                 to interconnect their offices in different countries. The largest and best example of a WAN is the
                                 Internet, which is a network composed of many smaller networks. The Internet is considered
                                 the largest network in the world. The PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) also is an
                                 extremely large network that is converging to use Internet technologies, although not necessarily
                                 through the public Internet.
                                 A Wide Area Network involves communication through the use of a wide range of different
                                 technologies. These technologies include Point-to-Point WANs such as Point-to-Point Protocol
                                 (PPP) and High-Level Data Link Control (HDLC), Frame Relay, ATM (Asynchronous Transfer
                                 Mode) and Sonet (Synchronous Optical Network). The difference between the WAN technologies
                                 is based on the switching capabilities they perform and the speed at which sending and receiving
                                 bits of information (data) occur.

                                                            Figure 6.2: A WAN Network






                                                       CU Denver  CU HSC  CU  Springs  UMS
                                                                                       Foundation
                                                         NCAR
                                                                        WAN
                                                                                         NASA
                                                         NOAA
                                                                                        juniper-gw
                                                   Abilene   FRGP
                                                                       NLR      ICG
                                                                                        tcom-juniper


                                                    Level 3   Qwest     WilTel




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