Computer Networks · Class 12 · Types of Networks
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MAN — Metropolitan Area Network
A school has five branches in one city. Each branch already has its own LAN. But the head office wants to see every branch’s attendance the moment it is marked. The branches need joining — across the city.
1What a MAN is
MAN
A Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) covers a town or a city. It is usually made by joining several LANs across the city, and reaches about 30 to 40 km.
Metropolitan means “to do with a city”. A MAN is bigger than a LAN, and smaller than a WAN.
Five LANs, one city
Each branch has its own LAN. Join them across the city.
2Features of a MAN
- Covers a town or city — about 30 to 40 km.
- Joins LANs together. Each branch keeps its own LAN; the MAN links them.
- Often uses fast fibre-optic cables laid under the city’s roads. (You will see how those work in Transmission Media.)
- Costlier than a LAN, and often run by a company such as a cable operator or a telephone company, or by a city itself.
3Examples
📺 Cable TV network
One operator's cables reaching homes across a city — the textbook example.
🌐 City broadband
A local company's cable internet service covering a town.
🏫 Branches of one school
Five campuses in one city, joined like the lab above.
🚦 City CCTV and traffic lights
Cameras and signals across the city, watched from one control room.
4Check yourself
Quick Check
A cable TV operator's network covers the whole of Gangtok. What type of network is it?
Quick Check
A MAN is usually formed by…