An acronym for Local Area Network. A computer network limited to a relatively small area, usually a room, floor, building or a group of buildings. LANs allow users to share resources such as files, printers, modems, etc. One LAN can be connected to another over any distance, thus creating WAN (Wide Area Network). LANs are capable of transmitting data at very high rates over comparatively short distances. For instance, in Gigabit Ethernet LAN data can be transmitted at the rate of 1000 Mbps. Basically, LAN is made up of servers, workstations, a network operating system and communications media. Currently, the majority of LANs are connected to the Internet, which makes it possible to share resources within or outside LAN. In fact, the Internet is a huge and unbelievably complex system of interconnected LANs and WANs. There are many different types of LANs, such as Ethernet, IBM Token Ring, Apple's AppleTalk. Main differences between them include topology (arrangement of devices in the network, see the picture below), protocols used in the network and media used to connect devices (twisted-pair wire, coaxial cable, or fiber-optic cable).

See also:

client/server architecture | peer-to-peer network