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What is a WAN?
A computer
network that spans over a large geographic area so it can connect offices in the same building,
across the country and the globe in a cost–effective way. So there are usually
at least two geographically separate offices that need to be connected through WAN. Each office
usually operates its computer through a local area network (LAN) that connects to the other geographic
areas through WAN, which consist of public networks, private networks, telephone system, leased
lines, and satellites.
What is a packet?
In current telecommunication technologies, the network breaks data such as
email, or voice, or webpages into parts
of a certain size, called packets. Each packet carries the information that will help it get to
its destination. For example if you were sending an email the information it would carry would
be the email address of the person you are sending your email to as well as something that tells
the network how many packets this email message has been broken into.
Each packet finds the best available route to get to its destination; a route that could be shared with the other packets
that make up the total message or maybe not. The network always aims for efficiency and speed by:
Balancing the load across various pieces of equipment depending on traffic and spotting possible problems with any equipment
in the network so that it can pick a different route when needed to transfer the packet through. This ensures the packet
bypasses the problem.
Can you say the same with the conversation you might have on the phone?
What is Packet Switching?
Packet switching is a WAN technology in which users share common carrier
resources. Because this allows the carrier to make more efficient use of its infrastructure, the
cost to the customer is generally much better than with point-to-point lines. In a packet switching
setup, networks have connections into the carrier's network, and many customers share the carrier's
network. The carrier can then create virtual circuits between customers' sites by which packets
of data are delivered from one to the other through the network. The section of the carrier's network
that is shared is often referred to as a cloud.
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