You have just been hired by a large company, and theIT manager is giving you an overview of the corporate network. He tells you that the corporation is spread out over several cities, and various…

Question

Options

• ALocal area network (LAN)
• BWide area network (WAN)
• CVirtual private network (VPN)
• DInternet Exchange Point (IPX)

• B
  94% (17)
• D
  6% (1)

Explanation

B is correct because a Wide Area Network (WAN) spans large geographic distances - in this case, multiple cities - and typically connects multiple LANs (like department subnetworks) using routers. The key identifiers here are geographic spread and router-connected subnetworks.

Why the others are wrong:

• A (LAN): A Local Area Network is confined to a single building or small campus - one city block at most. Multiple cities rules this out immediately.
• C (VPN): A Virtual Private Network is a security/tunneling technology layered on top of an existing network, not a network topology type. It's how you securely connect to a WAN, not what the WAN itself is.
• D (IPX): An Internet Exchange Point is a physical infrastructure where different ISPs interconnect to exchange traffic - it's not a network classification for a corporate setup. (Note: IPX also refers to an older Novell networking protocol, neither of which fits here.)

Memory tip: Think of the word "Wide" literally - if the network stretches wide across cities or countries, it's a WAN. If it stays local to one site, it's a LAN. Routers connecting geographically distant sites = WAN, every time.

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