High-speed network designed to link together metropolitan size areas, campuses or school districts

We make connections on networks every day, whether it’s your own network, or someone else’s. Whether visiting your favorite website, downloading a PDF, or printing a document, each requires a network to get you there. But with so many variations, it can become a bit confusing. This simple guide breaks down the ten most popular types of networks, and how they are used.

1. Campus Area Network (CAN)

The network for education.

Found in: Universities, large K-12 school districts.

Used for: Sharing information and resources across several buildings in close proximity to one another.

Consists of: A number of interconnected local area networks (LANs) to increase geographical reach.

2. Enterprise Private Network (EPN)

A companies personal network.

Found in: Various organizations.

Used for: Securely connecting shared computer resources across a number of disparate offices.

Consists of: Infrastructure built and owned by the business using it.

3. Local Area Network (LAN)

The most common type of network

Found in: Medium and large organizations.

Used for: Sharing information and resources within a building or between a group of buildings located near one another.

Consists of: A group of connected computers and low-voltage devices.

4. Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

Similar to, but larger than, a LAN.

Found in: Towns and cities.

Used for: Sharing information and resources across an entire metropolitan area.

Consists of: A group of connected computers usually owned and operated by a single person or company.

5. Passive Optical LAN (POLAN)

The next generation design for LANs—and a money and space-saver.

Found in: Indoor network architectures, small campus networks, and multi-story buildings.

Used for: Upgrading legacy, copper-laden architecture, reducing complexity, and increasing performance.

Consists of: Rack-mount patch panels and cassette-style splitters that integrate with an Ethernet network.

6. Personal Area Network (PAN)

You probably use one every day.

Found in: Homes or small offices.

Used for: One person.

Consists of: A wireless modem, personal device (computer or mobile), printer, etc.

7. Storage Area Network (SAN)

A dedicated high-speed network of storage devices that is accessible to multiple servers.

Found in: Mostly large organizations (due to expense and management complexity).

Used for: Providing fast local network performance.

Consists of: Interconnected hosts, switches, and storage devices.

8. Virtual Private Network (VPN)

A service used to encrypt data-in-flight.

Found in: PCs, laptops, smartphones, and other mobile devices.

Used for: Obscuring the content of your traffic from your internet service provider or public WiFi provider.

Consists of: Downloadable software applications.

9. Wide Area Network (WAN)

The most basic example of a WAN? The internet itself!

Found in: A wide variety of locations around the world.

Used for: Connecting computers across long physical distances, even overseas (ATMs are another good example).

Consists of: It varies; WANs can connect using the internet, leased lines, or satellite links.

10. Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)

Otherwise known as Wi-Fi.

Found in: Restaurants, hotels, hospitals, you name it.

Used for: Sharing information and resources within a building, or between a group of buildings located near one another.

Consists of: Wireless technology; unlike a LAN, no physical cables are needed to connect.

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