The debate of LAN vs WAN can be critical for modern businesses and organisations, as choosing the right network infrastructure can have a significant impact on your performance and growth. It doesn’t matter whether you want to share files, access cloud-based applications, or communicate with your remote working teams – your network is the backbone of your business operations.
If you’re thinking about partnering your business with an expert-managed IT service provider like M247, understanding the differences between these network types is crucial. We have our own selection of managed WAN services, easily tailorable to your own business needs and requirements.
In this blog, we’ll explore the key differences between WAN and LAN, showing you just how M247 can help modern businesses utilise these network types effectively. By the end of this page, you should have a much clearer understanding of LAN vs WAN, hopefully able to choose the right solution for your business needs.
If you’d like to find out more about our managed IT services, our expert team will be happy to help you – just get in touch here and we’ll see what we can do for you!
What Are the Key Differences Between WAN vs LAN?
Before we dive deeper into the world of LANs and WANS, it’s time to run you through the main question at hand: what are the key differences between WAN and LAN?
Both networking options are essential tools for modern businesses and organisations, but they differ significantly from one another. Here’s a detailed comparison of LAN vs WAN:
- Geographical coverage: The main difference between WAN and LAN is that LANs are limited to a small area, whereas WANs can span across large geographical areas.
- Speed and performance: LANs tend to perform better, as when using a WAN, the data often has to travel across large distances. WANs tend to be slower than LANs, with the latter offering high data transfer speeds and low latency.
- Pricing and cost: WANs are more costly to set up and maintain than LANs, as they often require specialised equipment and the use of third-party services.
- Ownership and control: LANs are typically owned and managed by your organisation, whereas WANs tend to rely on third-party managed IT providers.
- Cyber security: LANs are easier to secure due to their limited reach and scope. As WANs need to protect your data over long distances, they usually require additional cyber security protection measures.
- Best use cases: LANs are more suitable for internal communications and sharing resources within one location. However, WANs are best suited for connecting multiple locations together or people requiring remote access.
Hopefully, you should now have a better understanding of the difference between WAN and LAN. Next, we’ll explore these two network types in greater detail, which should hopefully help you decide which option is most appropriate for your business needs.
We also offer our own managed WAN services, if you’ve already made a decision as to which solution is best for your company – please speak to our team on 0808 253 6500 to find out more.
What Is a LAN?
The term LAN stands for local area network – it’s a form of private network that connects devices within a limited geographical area.
LANs are specifically designed to facilitate communications and resource sharing among devices that are in close proximity to one another. In most cases, LANs are privately owned and managed, making them ideal for internal use within a small area like a home, an office or a building.
Here are the main characteristics of a LAN that you should be aware of:
- Limited geographical scope: LANs have a limited geographical scope, always covering a small area – usually within a single building, office or campus.
- High data transfer speeds: LANs also offer high data transfer speeds – in most cases, these speeds can range from 100Mbps to 10Gbps, such as our 10Gbps fibre leased lines.
- Low cost: Setting up a LAN is relatively inexpensive – particularly when compared to the cost of setting up and maintaining a WAN.
- Centralised ownership: LANs are usually owned, controlled, and maintained by the organisation using them, although this isn’t always the case.
- Common devices: Common devices that can be connected to LANs include (but are not limited to) computers, video game consoles, printers, servers, and IoT (Internet of Things) devices.
How Are LANs Used?
LANS have many purposes, but they’re often used to connect devices within a limited area, such as a home, office, or school. LANs enable efficient communication and resource sharing within these spaces, allowing employees to easily share files, access centralised databases, and collaborate in real-time. Shared hardware items like printers, computers, and scanners can also be used via a LAN, reducing your operational costs and improving your overall efficiency.
In the home, LANs are more commonly used to connect devices like computers, smart TVs, video game consoles, and smartphones to a single internet connection. This approach allows multiple users to browse the internet at once, without needing several connections.
LANs can also be used to support smart home systems that use cloud services, enabling easy use of devices like security cameras, thermostats, and smart lighting tools. Whilst these technological advances are often used in the home, they may also have a purpose in the working environment. Overall, LANs can enhance productivity and simplify connectivity in one location, suitable for both personal and business settings.
What Are the Main Advantages of LANs?
Local area networks offer numerous advantages for the savvy business owner, making them perfect for resource sharing in the professional workspace. Let’s take a look at some of the main benefits when using these managed IT services for business:
The Benefits of LAN |
The Drawbacks of LAN |
| Easy resource sharing: Both your hardware and your software can be shared easily across the internet, improving efficiency and reducing your costs. | High setup costs: LANs can require significant costs to set up, including an upfront investment in your software and hardware. |
| Centralised data management: Your business data can be managed and stored centrally on a server, which makes it much easier to store, secure and access. | Ongoing maintenance and management is required: You will need to utilise a skilled IT team to provide ongoing maintenance and management for your LAN. |
| Improved communication: Real-time communication and collaboration are made easier through email, shared platforms, and instant messaging. | Cyber security risks: LANs are particularly vulnerable to cyber security threats, unauthorised access, and data breaches – if they’re not secured properly. |
| Fast data transfers: High-speed data transfers are easy to implement, ensuring improved productivity at reliable speeds. | A limited range: As LANs are confined to a small geographical space, their use is limited (particularly for remote teams). |
| Scalability: Your LAN can be easily expanded to implement new users and devices as your company grows. | Network congestion: Your network can become slow and congested if you have high traffic or too many devices connected |
| Internet sharing is cost-effective: A single internet connection can be shared by multiple users, making it more affordable. | Network dependency: If your LAN fails for some reason, your entire business operations may be disrupted until the network performance issue is fixed. |
| Collaboration is enhanced: Teamwork and resource sharing are improved, as employees can work together in real-time on shared projects and documents. | High complexity: Setting up and managing a LAN can be highly complex – particularly for businesses without a dedicated IT support team. |
As you can see, there are many pros and cons to using a LAN for your business. Now it’s time to move onto the world of wide area networks, hopefully helping you to make the right decision for your organisation.
What is a WAN?
A wide area network (WAN) is a type of network that spans a large geographical area, making it rather different to a LAN. A WAN can connect multiple networks together (including, but not limited to LANs), with many different types of WAN available, including managed SD-WAN services and MPLS IPVPN.
WANs are specifically designed to ease communication, resource sharing and data exchange over long distances, making them particularly suitable for businesses with multiple locations or remote workers.
These are the main characteristics of a wide area network:
- A vast geographical scope: Unlike LANs, WANs cover large areas, such as cities, countries, or even continents (in some cases).
- Lower transfer speeds: WANs generally have lower data transfer speeds when compared to LANs, although this is highly dependent on the technology used.
- High costs: Setting up and maintaining a WAN is usually more expensive than a LAN, due to the need for specialised equipment and managed IT services.
- Third-party ownership: It isn’t always the case, but WANs often rely on third-party service providers like the skilled M247 team to manage their infrastructure and connectivity.
- The number of devices connected: WANs can connect multiple LANs, routers, and switches across different locations, combining numerous devices together.
Find out more about what is a WAN in our in-depth blog.
How Are WANs Used?
WANs have many purposes in the business world, enabling you to connect multiple devices and offices across several locations. Essentially, a WAN links a range of smaller networks together across large geographical distances. These connections are achieved through the use of switches, routers, satellite links, and fibre broadband cables.
Your business data is broken into small data packets (with each packet containing source and destination addresses) – these packets are then sent on different paths across the network, depending on factors like congestion or availability. By doing this, WANs enable organisations and businesses to share resources, communicate effectively, and operate seamlessly across multiple locations around the world, making collaboration much easier.
Find out more about the different examples of WANs in our insightful blog.
What Are the Main Advantages of WANs?
There are many benefits to using a WAN for your business, enabling you to easily connect and communicate with other people in your organisation, no matter where they are located. Let’s take a look at the main advantages and disadvantages of WAN:
The Benefits of WAN |
The Drawbacks of WAN |
| Geographic coverage: WANs enable global operations, connecting offices and devices across cities, countries, and continents. | High costs: Setting up and maintaining a WAN can be expensive, due to the cost of leased lines, hardware, and service fees. |
| Centralised data access:: Employees in different locations can access shared resources and data, improving collaboration. | Complex setup process: WANs require advanced hardware, software, and expertise to configure and manage. |
| Improved communication: WANs facilitate and improve real-time communication between remote teams. | Cyber security risks: WANs can often be more vulnerable to cyber security risks and attacks, data breaches, and unauthorised access. |
| Improved resource sharing: WANs enable easy sharing of servers, applications, and storage across multiple locations, reducing duplication. | Dependence on service providers: WANs are often reliant on third-party providers for connectivity, which can lead to downtime or performance issues. |
| Scalability and flexibility: WANs can be easily expanded to connect additional offices or users as the business grows. | Slower transfer speeds: Data transfer rates are typically slower than LANs, due to the long distances your data must travel. |
| Disaster recovery options: WANs support centralised backups and disaster recovery solutions, ensuring business continuity if the worst happens. | Latency issues: Long-distance data transmission can cause delays and high latency, affecting real-time applications. |
| Global connectivity: WANs facilitate international business operations by connecting teams and offices worldwide. | Maintenance challenges: WANs require ongoing monitoring, updates, and a skilled IT team to manage them effectively. |
LAN vs WAN: Making the Right Choice for Your Business
The debate of LAN vs WAN isn’t necessarily about which option is better – instead, it’s about finding out which solution is more suited to your current and predicted business needs. It can be a difficult decision to make, but we’re sure that after reading through this blog, you’ll be much better placed to choose the right service for your company..
If your organisation seeks out expert guidance and support, partnering with a managed service provider like M247 could make all the difference, enabling you to focus on other pressing business matters. As a premier managed WAN provider in the UK, we offer a range of tailored solutions for our clients. Our solutions include proactive management, and 24/7 support, designed to ensure your network is always reliable, secure, and ready to meet the demands of your business.
The expert team at M247 has the expertise and tools to help you succeed in growing your business – contact M247 today to learn more about how we can drive your business forward.
