Local Area Networks

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Local Area Networks

• By James Grenning

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What is a Local Area Network?

• A Local Area Network (LAN) is a computer network
  which covers a small geographic area, like a
  home, office, or group of buildings.

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What is a Local Area Network?

• The defining characteristics of LANs, in contrast
  to Wide Area Networks (WANs), include their much
  higher data transfer rates, smaller geographic
  range, and lack of a need for leased
  telecommunication lines.

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Example of a LAN
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Uses of Local Area Networks

• File transfer in office buildings.
• LAN parties are large groups of people who gather
  to play video games together or online (Ex Xbox
  360 System Link).
• The Student Shared Folder in the Bishops
  College computer network is also and example of a
  LAN.

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The History of LANs

• The first LANs were created in the late 1970s and
  were used to create high-speed links between
  several large central computers at one site.

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The History of LANs

• Of many competing systems created at this time,
  Ethernet and ARCNET were the most popular.

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The History of LANs

• The initial attraction of networking these was
  generally to share disk space and laser printers,
  which were both very expensive at the time.

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The History of LANs

• There was much enthusiasm for the concept and for
  several years, from about 1983 onward, computer
  industry pundits would regularly declare the
  coming year to be the year of the LAN.