From the course: AWS Certified Advanced Networking - Specialty (ANS-C01) Cert Prep

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What is a wide area network (WAN)?

What is a wide area network (WAN)? - Amazon Web Services (AWS) Tutorial

From the course: AWS Certified Advanced Networking - Specialty (ANS-C01) Cert Prep

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What is a wide area network (WAN)?

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Inside an office, computers can easily communicate with each other. That's called a local area network or LAN. But what if a company has offices in different cities like Manila or Cebu? How do those computers talk to each other even though they are far apart? That's where a wide area network or WAN comes in. A WAN connects multiple local networks over long distances, making them work as one. A WAN is often called a network of networks. Each office has its own LAN, and the WAN links those LANs together. This allows users to share files, access systems, and communicate, even if they are thousands of kilometers apart. Routers sit at the edge of each network and guide data from one location to another. How data moves across a WAN When data travels across a WAN, it doesn't move all at once. it's broken into small pieces called packets. Each packet has information about where it's going. Routers read that information and forward the…

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