A small home business or a small office environment could use a small LAN to connect
two or more computers and to connect the computers to one or more shared peripheral
devices such as printers. A large corporate office could use multiple LANs to accommodate
hundreds of computers and shared peripheral devices, for departments such as
finance or operations, spanning many floors in an office complex.
Components of a LAN
Every LAN has specific components, including hardware, interconnections, and software.
Figure 3-2 highlights some typical hardware components of a LAN.