An Overview: Metropolitan Area Network
A MAN or metropolitan area network is a network with a size greater than Local Area Network (LAN), but smaller than a Wide Area Network (WAN). It includes networked interconnections within a city that provide a connection to the internet.
Top Features of MAN
- Network size ranges from 5 to 50 km. It might be as small as a group of buildings in a campus to as large as covering the entire city.
- Data rates of MAN are moderate to high.
- A MAN can be either owned by a user group or a provider of a network who provides service to users instead of a single organization as in LAN.
- It offers to share of regional resources.
- It provides uplinks to connect LANs to WANs and the Internet.
Some of the examples of MAN metropolitan area network are cable TV network, telephone networks that offer high-speed DSL lines, and IEEE 802.16 or WiMAX that offers high-speed broadband access with the...