A Local Area Network (LAN) is a combination of hardware and software technology that allows computers to share a variety of resources such as:
- Printers and other peripheral devices.
- Data.
- Applications programs.
- Storage devices.
LANs also allow messages to be sent between attached computers, thereby enabling users to work together electronically in a process often referred to collaborative computing. The messaging capability of a LAN can be used by a variety of applications including e-mail, group scheduling, and fax servers. A category of software known as groupware supports a variety of collaborative computing applications.
The local nature of a local area network is a relative rather than absolute concept. No hard and fast rule or definition of geographic limitations qualifies a network as a local area network. In general, LANs are confined to a single building or a small group of buildings.
LANs can be extended by connecting to other similar or dissimilar LANs, to remote users, or to mainframe computers. LANs of a particular company can be connected to the LANs of trading partners such as vendors and customers. These trading partners may be located in the same town or around the globe. Arrangements linking these trading partners, commonly referred to as enterprise networks, are created by combining LANs with a variety of Wide Area Network (WAN) services.
Strictly speaking, the computers themselves are not a part of the LAN. In other words, a single user could be productive on a standalone personal computer (PC). However, to allow sharing of information, resources, or messages with other users and their computers, a LAN must be implemented to connect these computers. The LAN is the combination of technologies that allow computers and their users interact.
