Wireless local area networks

A local area network (LAN) is a group of computers linked together within the building, campus, or other small region. The interconnections in LANs were made with the wire cables, but increasingly, radio links are being used. A wireless LAN provides flexibility as the computer users can move around without having bother with the plugging and unplugging cables. This arrangement is ideal when the notebook computers are used.

The way in which a LAN is arranged is called as LAN topology. There are 2 major topologies: client-server wireless LAN and peer-to-peer wireless LAN.In a client-server wireless LAN, there is one large, powerful, central computer called a file server, to which all smaller personal computers are linked. The file server has enormous computing power, high speed, and large storage capacity, and can contain all data for every user. End users do not communicate directly at all. All the data should pass through file server.In a peer to peer LAN, all of the computers in the network are PCs with more or less equal computing power, speed, and storage capacity. Each user generally maintains his/her own data. Subscribers can, and almost always do, communicate

A local area network (LAN) is a group of computers linked together within the building, campus, or other small region. The interconnections in LANs were made with the wire cables, but increasingly, radio links are being used. A wireless LAN provides flexibility as the computer users can move around without having bother with the plugging and unplugging cables. This arrangement is ideal when the notebook computers are used.

The way in which a LAN is arranged is called as LAN topology. There are 2 major topologies: client-server wireless LAN and peer-to-peer wireless LAN.In a client-server wireless LAN, there is one large, powerful, central computer called a file server, to which all smaller personal computers are linked. The file server has enormous computing power, high speed, and large storage capacity, and can contain all data for every user. End users do not communicate directly at all. All the data should pass through file server.In a peer to peer LAN, all of the computers in the network are PCs with more or less equal computing power, speed, and storage capacity. Each user generally maintains his/her own data. Subscribers can, and almost always do, communicate

directly without data having to pass through any intermediary. This greater privacy and individuality than the client server topology, but it is slower when a large number of users need to share data.

In the illustrations, only three PCs are shown in the networks. But any LAN can have as few as 2, or as many as several dozen, PC workstations. Client server LANs are favored by large institutions. Small businesses and schools, or departments within the larger corporation or university, prefer to use peer to peer LANs, because they are cheaper and easier to maintain.