Evaluate Wide Area Network (WAN) technologies Essay

Evaluate Wide Area Network (WAN) technologies - Essay Example LAN provide networking capabilities to a small group of computers close to each other such as at home, office or campus. A family can share resources including files, printers, telephone devices and games via LAN. Its main function is to link computers in a network. Its installed in the available PCI ports inside the computers and consist of a unique Media Control Access address. WLAN card allows wireless connection between computers in a network (Bachmann & Stern, 2010). LAN cards can be connected to Ethernet cables via BNC and AUI twisted pair sockets. It’s a network point acting as an entrance to a network and also connects a LAN to the internet. In large enterprises computer server functioning as a gateway can also double up as a proxy server and a firewall server. A hub is a device with multiple ports (6, 8, 16, and 24 ) used to connect all computers with each other in a LAN. Data packets at the hub are broadcasted to all computers. In contrast, a switch directs data to a particular intended port by use of addresses. It acts as a filter thus reduces the amount of traffic on a network. They are used to regenerate or amplify signals that span a limited distance before their quality degrades. They also remove unwanted noise from incoming signals and transmit messages in networks that operate with different protocols. Computers in different rooms and a printer would require a repeater to work efficiently (Habraken, 2009). A large enterprise consisting of hundreds of users and a manufacturing plant typically employs LAN to connect to the Internet WAN via Internet Service Providers. In addition to the above mentioned devices the following devices are necessary; A modem is a communication device that modulates and demodulates digital and analogue data respectively. It converts digital signals produced by the computers into voice frequencies that can be transmitted over telephone