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MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)
MAN is a type of network in which the nodes are connected over a large geographical area such as a
metropolitan city e.g., telephone lines, networking of various government departments, etc. across a city.
It may be a single network or may be a network that connects several LANs. MAN may be operated by a
single organisation or by several organisations in the same city.
The communication medium used in MAN can be wired (i.e., Guided media: ethernet cable) or wireless
(i.e., Unguided media: microwave circuits, satellite, radio transmission, etc.) It is spread within a single city
or metropolitan area and it covers larger area than a LAN but a smaller geographical area than a WAN. It
is mainly owned by large organisations to interconnect all its branches across a city.
WAN (Wide Area Network)
WAN is a type of network in which computers or nodes are connected over large geographical areas such
as cities, states, countries or even the whole world.
WANs are connected through gateways which help in coordination of the set of rules used in one network
with the other network. The most common example of WAN is the Internet. The communication medium
used in WAN are mostly unguided or wireless for example satellites.
The term Internet is derived from Interconnection and Network. Internet is the wide area network that
links together millions of computers so that a wide range of users can share and exchange information
amongst themselves.
40 Touchpad Computer Applications (Ver. 2.0)-IX

