Salient Advantages And Disadvantages Of Wide Area Network
It would not have been possible to have internet if intelligent switches, satellites, fibre optic cables, and LAN cards were not invented. Internet is a very common example of wide area network, because everyone is familiar with it now. In order to have better understanding of wide area network (WAN), it is very important that you must understand local area network (LAN).
As the name shows, local area network is one, which is built in a limited area with the help of LAN cables, switches and LAN cards. The most common example of a local area network is the network of a university, or a business office. A network switch is used to connect all the computers in a local area network. It is up to you, you can make this network a workgroup (share limited resources), or you can make it a domain (share all kind of resources, and services). If you make it a domain, then you will have the benefit of controlling the use of services by the users. LAN has one restriction that it can work in only small distances. For connecting institutions and offices in different location, WAN is used.
With the help of devices like routers, it is very convenient to connect two or more LANs to form a WAN. A wide area network can be built in many ways. One way is to lay down your own cables between two or more locations to form a WAN, and the other way is that you can use a leased line for the same purpose. The most preferred way, used by most of the companies is the use of leased line, as it saves a cost of thousands of pounds.
Most of the businesses and institutions get leased lines from different service providers, and make the payment on monthly basis. With the advancement in technology, many companies are setting up Virtual Private Network (VAN) by using leased lines. It is very easy to form a VAN by buying live IPs from the service operator, at two or more different locations. A network administrator secures this network by using routers, and firewalls.
There are many users at different locations that are connected to a central server in a WAN. The logic behind the name server for this central computer is that it serves all the computers on the network. Each computer on the network is connected to a central database on the server. All these computers can easily save data at real time, send queries to server, and fetch reports at the same time. A very good example of WAN network is a banking system.
There are unlimited benefits of a wide area network. People in two different countries can work as if they are sitting in offices next to each other. It has become very easy to share documents, reports, prints, query databases, search through thousands of records in just quick seconds, monitor distant location offices by using digital cameras, and do much more. There is no limit to the benefits of a wide area network, and you can take whatever benefit you desire from it. The more sophisticated technology you use for a wide area network, the more costly it would become for you.
There are a few disadvantages associated with a wide area network, but they can be overcome with the use of advanced technology. The greatest matter of concern on a WAN is security. It becomes very easy for anyone to intrude or hack your system once you connect to the internet using the Live IPs. Therefore, for the purpose of security, firewalls, and routers are installed, which may increase your expenses. In WAN, the latency period is very high, but it can be tackled with the help of a high-speed internet. All the businesses and institutions need to have ample money if they want to set up a WAN, because the technologies needed for securing the network are very expensive.
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