Local Area Network
Local Area Network (LAN)
Computer networks can be broadly classified based on their network coverage area. Computer networks are classified into the following types:
- LAN(Local Area Network)
- MAN(Metropolitan Area Network)
- WAN(Wide Area Network)
LAN
A Local Area Network(LAN) is a small, privately owned computer network that is used to interconnect computers in a single room, in a building, or in buildings on a single campus. A LAN network is within a single building or campus, spanning a few kilometers in area.
LAN Speed
The LAN computer network communication speed range from 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps. (Mega Bits Per Second).
LAN Uses
The primary use of LAN in the business organization is to connect multiple computers of the employees in order to share resources like: documents, files, applications, and hardware devices like printers, CD/ROM, Fax, etc.
LAN Types
LANs can be classified into two types:
- Server-based
- Peer-to-peer
Server-Based
In this type of LAN computer network, a separate computer is dedicated as the server which processes requests from many clients or workstations in the network.
Peer-to-peer
This is no dedicated server machine on this kind of network. In this type of LAN network all the computers on the network act as resource providers and client users.
