Wide Area Networks
Yunhong Gu · Wiley Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Engineering · 2008
Abstract This article briefly describes wide area networks (WAN), which can be defined roughly as the computer networks that cover a broad geographical area. The Internet is the most typical WAN. Another example would be an intranet for a large enterprise that has multiple geographically distributed branches. This article explains WANs in the organization of the five‐layer TCP/IP layered model. For each layer, typical hardware and software (protocols) for WANs are discussed, especially these popular technologies used in WANs today.