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Local Area Network (LAN)
Raptor Networks LAN switches improve the network’s redundancy--all Raptor switches must fail to the bring the network down versus only the core switch in a legacy system. Call (888) 255-5859 for more information.
A wired LAN requires Ethernet cable to physically connect all computers on the network to a main device called a switch.
Since each individual data packet on a LAN is small, it takes very little time to travel to the ends of the cable.
On a LAN, many users can share expensive devices, such as laser printers, as well as data.
A WAN connects several LANs, and may be limited to an enterprise (a corporation or an organization) or accessible to the public.
The most common type of local area network is an Ethernet LAN.
Ethernet is by far the most commonly used LAN technology.
Four common LAN topologies exist: bus, ring, star, and tree.
In the early 80s, the original commercial medium was based on a yellow coaxial cable, referred to as the thick cable with a characteristic impedance of 50 ohms. This was quickly replaced by the lower cost thin RG58 coaxial cable, commercially known as the Thinnet, Thin Ethernet or Cheapernet.
In a ring topology, all nodes on the LAN are connected in a loop and their Network Interface Cards (NIC) are working as repeaters. There is no starting or ending point. Each node will repeat any signal that is on the network regardless its destination. The destination station recognizes its address and copies the frame into a local buffer as it goes by. The frame continues to circulate until it returns to the source station, where it is removed. Token Ring (IEEE 802.5) is the most popular Ring topology protocol. FDDI (IEEE 802.6) is another protocol used in the Ring topology, which is based on the Token Ring.
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