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A WAN connects local computer networks into a larger network spanning national and international locations. Telephony technology is used, including POTS, PSTN, and ISDN. Businesses benefit from shared resources and unified networks, allowing employees to work from anywhere and continue working during natural disasters. Consumers also benefit from the extended services.
The WAN, often called a WAN, is a communications network that uses existing technology to connect local computer networks into a larger working network that can span national and international locations. This is in contrast to both the local area network and the metropolitan area network, which provide communication within a narrow geographic area.
Connecting one computer network to another is often desirable, especially for businesses that manage a variety of facilities. Starting on the local area network and going all the way up to the wide area network, this is easiest to accomplish using existing telephony technology. Basically, optical fiber is used to create the link between networks located in different structures. Often this means using standard telephone lines, called POTS, or using PSTN (public switched telephone network) technology. In the 1990s, a third option, that of integrated services digital network (ISDN) solutions for building a network gained great popularity, mainly because the concept made it more cost-effective to extend the network beyond national borders.
With coverage across a large area, a WAN allows businesses to use common resources to operate. For example, many retail pharmacies use one as part of their support for customers filling prescriptions with one of their stores. Once in the common pharmacy customer database, the customer is free to fill a prescription at any of the company’s locations, even while on an out-of-state vacation.
Businesses also make good use of the wide area network. Internal functions such as sales, production and development, marketing and accounting can also be shared with authorized offices through this type of wide-ranging network application. Using it as a means to take individual location-based computer networks and create a unified computer network for the entire company means employees can work from virtually anywhere. If a facility is damaged or rendered inaccessible by a natural disaster, employees simply move to another location where they can access the unified network and continue working.
The wide area network has allowed companies to communicate internally in ways never before possible. As a bonus, consumers can enjoy a number of benefits that providers were unable to extend in the past. In this sense, it has brought everyone closer together.
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