Metropolitan Area Network

There are three types of networks on their physical size: 1) 2) 3) Local area network Metropolitan area network Wide area network

A MAN, while larger than LAN is limited to city or group of nearby corporate offices. It uses similar technology of LAN.

The MAN standards are sponsored by the IEEE (Institutes of electrical and electronics engineers), ANSI (American National Standards institute) and the Regional Bell operating companies. The MAN standard is organized around a topology and technique called BUS (Distributed Queue Dual Bus).

 MAN provides the transfer rates from 34 to 150 Mbps. MAN is designed with two unidirectional buses. Each bus is independent of the other in the transfer of traffic. The topology can be designed as an open bus or closed configuration.

MANs are based on fiber optic transmission technology and provide high speed interconnection between sites. It can support both data and voice. MAN as a special category is that a standard has been adopted for them and the standard is now being implemented. It is called IEEE.

A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a large computer network that usually spans a city or a large campus. A MAN usually interconnects a number of local area networks (LANs) using a high-capacity backbone technology, such as fiber-optical links, and provides up-link services to wide area networks and the Internet.

 The IEEE 802-2001 standard describes a MAN as being[1]: A MAN is optimized for a larger geographical area than a LAN, ranging from several blocks of buildings to entire cities. A physical ring used to support a MAN. (in below fig).

MANs can also depend on communications channels of moderate-to-high data rates. A MAN might be owned and operated by a

single organization, but it usually will be used by many individuals and organizations. MANs might also be owned and operated as public utilities. They will often provide means for internetworking of local networks. Authors Kenneth C. Loudon and Jane P. Loudon of Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm 10th ed. define a metropolitan area network as: A Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is a large computer network that spans a metropolitan area or campus. Its geographic scope falls between a WAN and LAN. MANs provide Internet connectivity for LANs in a metropolitan region, and connect them to wider area networks like the Internet. It can also be used in cable television.

MANs have very high transfer speeds. MANs can recover from network faults very quickly (failover time).

MANs are very often a ring topology (not a star-wired ring). Some MANs can be provisioned dynamically.