A computer network can also be termed as linking of group of computers through a communication medium to transmit and receive the data and information within all the computers in the network.
The computer network is divided into following categories :
- Local Area Network ( LAN )
- Wide Area Network ( WAN )
- Metropolitan Area Network ( MAN )
- Personal Area Network ( PAN )
- Campus Area Network ( CAN )
The computer network restricted to limited area to share the resources and exchange information from the server or source computer or main computer is known as local area network ( LAN ).
Each computer connected through a server ( or source or main computer ) is known as workstation or node. The computers may be connected through a cable ( coaxial cable or fiber optics cable etc.) or Wireless LAN ( WLAN ). The resource and information that are share within the LAN maybe programs , hard disk, printer or modem etc. It is commonly used in schools, homes, offices, hospitals and library etc.
The transmission rate in LAN usually ranges from 10 Mbps ( Mega Bits Per Second ) to 1 Gbps ( Giga Bits Per Second ).
The following figure shows a sample LAN arrangement :
Wide Area Network ( WAN ):
The group of interconnected computers ( LAN ) separated worldwide covering large geographical area to exchange the data and information is known as wide area network
( WAN ). Thus, it can be said that one or more group of LANs spread across worldwide and connected through a communication medium such as telephone lines, cables, air medium, satellites etc.
The example of WAN is "Internet". The transmission rate in WAN ranges from 1200 Bps ( Bits Per Second ) to 5 Mbps ( Mega Bits Per Second ) or more.
The following figure shows a sample WAN arrangement:
Metropolitan Area Network ( MAN ):
The computer network that shares some characteristics of both LANs and WANs and restricted to a city or metropolitan area to share the resources and exchange information is known as metropolitan area network ( MAN ).
The capabilities of MAN is larger than LAN and smaller than WAN. A metropolitan area network ( MAN ) is generally interconnects number of local area networks ( LANs ) using fiber optical links ( Optical Fiber Cable OFC ) that provides linking services to wide area network ( WAN ) and the internet.
The cable- TV network is one of the example of MAN because it usually covers a city. Another example of MAN is the connecting of LANs of two buildings.
The following figure shows a sample of MAN arrangement: 
Personal Area Network ( PAN ):
The computer network restricted to small area to communicate among attached devices such as telephone lines or Bluetooth etc., is known as personal area network ( PAN ). The devices connected in PAN arrangement may be printer, mobile phones, and digital signature pad etc.
The PAN arrangement may contain Wired or Wireless devices. A wired PAN is connected with USB and Firewire connections and the wireless PAN include Bluetooth and Infrared connections.
The following figure shows a sample PAN arrangement:
Campus Area Network ( CAN ):
The computer network which inter-connects two or more local area networks ( LANs ) within the limited geographical area is known as campus area network ( CAN ).
The commonly used network devices in CAN are switches and routers etc., and the communication medium may be optical-fiber cable, Cat5 network cable, and copper plant etc.
The campus area networks ( CANs ) as per its name "campus" are used to inter-connect LANs of different floors of a building or an organization such as, various departments of an university, corporate offices, government organizations, and business organizations etc.
The following figure shows an sample of CAN arrangement:
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