Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

Metropolitanarea network (MAN)

A metropolitan area network (MAN) is anetwork that interconnects users with computer resources in a geographic areaor region larger than that covered by even a large local area network (LAN) butsmaller than the area covered by a wide area network (WAN). The term is appliedto the interconnection of network in a city into a single larger network (whichmay then also offer efficient connection to a wide area network). It is alsoused to mean the interconnection of several local area networks by bridgingthem with backbone lines. The latter usage is also sometimes referred to as acampus network.

Examples of metropolitan area networks ofvarious sizes can be found in the metropolitan areas of London, England; Lodz,Poland; and Geneva, Switzerland. Large universities also sometimes use the termto describe their networks.

From: http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/metropolitan-area-network-MAN