A Local Area Network (LAN) is a high-speed communications system designed to link computers and other data processing devices together within a small geographic area, such as a workgroup, department, or building. Several LANs can also be interconnected within a campus of buildings to extend connectivity (also called a Wide Area Network or WAN). This allows users to electronically share vital computing resources, such as expensive hardware (e.g. printers and CD-ROM drives), application programs, and information.
Local Area Networks implement shared access technology. This means that all of the devices attached to the LAN share a single communications medium, usually a coaxial, twisted-pair, or fiber-optic cable.
A physical connection to the network is made by putting a network interface card (NIC) inside the computer and connecting it to the network cable. Once the physical connection is in place, the network software manages communications between stations on the network.A local area network (LAN) is a group of computers and associated devices that share a common communications line or wireless link. Typically, connected devices share the resources of a single processor or server within a small geographic area (for example, within an office building). Usually, the server has applications and data storage that are shared in common by multiple computer users. A local area network may serve as few as two or three users (for example, in a home network) or as many as thousands of users (for example, in an FDDI network).
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ayisha
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4:24 PM on June 01, 2008