Local Area Network

Computer network limited to one single location, usually an office.

A Local Area Network that depicts any computer network technology that operates at high speed over short distances (up to a few thousand meters). A LAN may refer to a network in a given department or within a given firm or campus. It differs from computer networks that cross wider geographic spaces such as those networks on a WAN network.&nbsp A LAN does not use the publc arteries of the Internet like intranets and VPNs. (See also Internet ,&nbsp TCP/IP , WAN ,&nbsp Intranet , and Extranet , and Virtual Private Networks (VPN) )

A data network intended to serve an area of only a few square kilometers or less. Because the network is known to cover only a small area, optimizations can be made in the network signal protocols that permit data rates up to 100Mb/s. See also: Ethernet, Fiber Distributed Data Interface, token ring, Wide Area Network. [Source: NNSC]

(Local Area Network). A group of computers located in a relatively limited area (like an office building) and connected by a communications link that allows them to interact with each other. Many LANs are connected to the Internet.