Computer networks can be classified into three broad categories.
Local Area Network (LAN)
A local area network remains confined to a relatively small space. It is useful in providing services to a small number of people. Networks in small offices and homes are some examples of LANs.
Home and small office networks are also peer-to-peer networks in which a minimal resource is used and each client shares its resources with other workstations on the network.
Another LAN is a client-server network where each client remains connected to the server and to each other. Servers in client-server networks have different capabilities. There are two types of client-server networks:
- Single service servers that perform a single task, for example, as a file server; and
- Print server that performs multiple tasks, eg as a file server, print server, performs calculations and provides information to the client based on the result of the calculations.
Ethernet cables, wireless networks, or other types of cables such as power lines or telephone lines can be used to connect computers on LANs.
Wide Area Network (WAN)
A wide variety of resources are deployed on the WAN. These networks cover not only a large national area but also an international one. The connectivity of computers in branch offices of a corporate organization is an example of a WAN. But the largest WAN in the world is the Internet, a network of many smaller networks. In addition to the Internet, another huge WAN is the public switched telephone network, which is rapidly converging with Internet technologies.
Wireless networks (WLAN, WWAN)
A wireless network is based on the transmission of data through sets of radio transceivers. It is basically the same as a LAN or a WAN. The only difference is that there are no cables between the hosts (clients) and the servers. These types of networks are useful for places where the installation of wired networks is too expensive or inconvenient. It uses IEEE media access protocols for LANs. To connect nodes at long distances, satellite communications of various kinds or cellular radio or wireless local loop are in vogue. But the speed and quality of data transmission varies greatly depending on the communication medium used.
