Editing Telecommunications network (section)

== {{anchor|data network}}Data networks==
{{Area networks}}
Data networks are used extensively throughout the world for communication between individuals and [[organization]]s. Data networks can be connected to allow users seamless access to resources that are hosted outside of the particular provider they are connected to. The [[Internet]] is the best example of the [[internetworking]] of many data networks from different organizations.

Terminals attached to [[IP network]]s like the Internet are addressed using [[IP address]]es. Protocols of the [[Internet protocol suite]] (TCP/IP) provide the control and routing of messages across the and IP data network. There are many different network structures that IP can be used across to efficiently route messages, for example:
* [[Wide area network]]s (WAN)
* [[Metropolitan area network]]s (MAN)
* [[Local area network]]s (LAN)

There are three features that differentiate MANs from LANs or WANs:
# The area of the network size is between LANs and WANs. The MAN will have a physical area between 5 and 50&nbsp;km in diameter.<ref name=gorry_MAN/>
# MANs do not generally belong to a single organization. The equipment that interconnects the network, the links, and the MAN itself are often owned by an association or a network provider that provides or leases the service to others.<ref name=gorry_MAN/>
# A MAN is a means for sharing resources at high speeds within the network. It often provides connections to WAN networks for access to resources outside the scope of the MAN.<ref name=gorry_MAN>{{cite web |url=http://www.erg.abdn.ac.uk/users/gorry/course/intro-pages/man.html |title=Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) |publisher=Erg.abdn.ac.uk |access-date=2013-06-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151010082944/http://www.erg.abdn.ac.uk/users/gorry/course/intro-pages/man.html |archive-date=2015-10-10 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Data center network]]s also rely highly on TCP/IP for communication across machines. They connect thousands of servers, are designed to be highly robust, provide low latency and high bandwidth. Data center network topology plays a significant role in determining the level of failure resiliency, ease of incremental expansion, communication bandwidth and latency.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Noormohammadpour|first1=Mohammad|last2=Raghavendra|first2=Cauligi|title=Datacenter Traffic Control: Understanding Techniques and Tradeoffs|journal=IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials|date=28 July 2018|volume=20|issue=2|pages=1492–1525|doi=10.1109/COMST.2017.2782753|arxiv=1712.03530|s2cid=28143006}}</ref>