1.3.6 Types of networks

Network infrastructures can vary greatly in terms of:

• size of the area covered
• number of users connected
• number and types of services available.

Figure 11 illustrates the two most common types of network infrastructure:

• Local area network (LAN)  −a network infrastructure that provides access to users and end devices in a limited area such as a home, school, office building, or campus. It provides high speed bandwidth to internal end devices and intermediary devices.
• Wide area network (WAN) − a network infrastructure that interconnects LANs over wide geographical areas such as between cities, states, provinces, countries, or continents. WANs are usually owned by an autonomous organisation, such as a corporation or a government. WANs typically provide link speeds between LANs that are slower than the link speeds within a LAN.