Every LAN may or may not be with WAN . Every WAN will be with LAN.
In the today’s world, Two devices are in network if one device is able to exchange information with another. Networks are known as a medium of connections between a set of devices or computers. A network consists of group of computer systems, servers, networking devices which are linked together to share resources, such as printer or a file server. The connections is established by using either cable media or wireless media.
There are various types of networks based on the geographic area they cover. These are 1.Local area network(LAN)
2. Metropolitan area network(MAN)
3.Wide area network(WAN).
LAN (Local Area Network )is a privately owned computer network covering a small geographical area, like a home, college ,office, or groups of buildings etc. . A LAN is used to connect the computers and other network devices so that the devices can communicate with each other to share the resources. PC’s, laptop in an office / college are generally inter-connected with each other by using LAN networks through which we can share data files, software, e-mail and access hardware such as printers, FAX etc.
A wide area network (WAN) is a telecommunication network. A wide area network is simply a LAN of LAN’s or Network of Networks. WAN’s connect LAN’s that may be on opposite sides of a building, across the country or anywhere across the world. Computers connected to a Wide Area Networks are often connected through public networks, such as the telephone system. They can also be connected through leased lines or satellites. The largest WAN in existence in the world is the Internet.
Furthermore lets understand with some example:
In a college , suppose all the professors PCs/ laptop are connected through LAN, then one of the PC can be converted into Server and all the other PC’s will be clients which can have access to the data stored on the client computer. By having this kind of a facility the Dean and the professors of the college can easily share data or resources with each other as they are on the same network.
Similarly ,In an office which is connected via LAN network, we can share the hardware and software resources like printers, FAX, drivers and hard-disk as they are on one platform .
From the above examples we can observe that for any type of information or any data that is to be communicated can be easily shared with one another as they are working on a same network here without the use of internet. LAN is not depend on WAN network .
Internet cafe owners use the LAN network to provide internet connections to multiple PCs and users connected via a single internet connection. This makes the use of the internet a cost-effective one.
A library can have a wired or wireless LAN Network for users to interconnect local networking devices servers to connect to the internet.
In above examples LAN network is used .But the LAN network will unable to work if WAN is not providing the internet service to it as internet is the largest WAN over the world. Again if we consider the example of the college building, all the computers can be connected through internet. But these computers are accessing the internet via the already established LAN in the college. Since there is intrusion of internet in the LAN and internet is an example of WAN, we can say that LAN can be connected to a WAN.
Hence , we can say that ‘ Every LAN may or may not be with WAN . Every WAN will be with LAN.
