AI Tools & Automation

Have file sharing become a problem across town with your branch offices? With ever-rising budgets for leased lines, but video calls that are still getting stuck between your city locations? It’s not the smallest bug in the world. You’re using the wrong network layer to solve the problem. An IP MAN addresses this very issue. It connects all of the offices, campuses, or data centers within a single city to a single high-speed IP-based backbone that joins them together. Then you can cut the cost of using multiple point-to-point connections and deploy a single network to cover your entire metro region. This guide explains what an ip metropolitan area network is, how it operates, and why it’s superior to slower options for organisations located throughout a city. What Is an IP Metropolitan Area Network? IP metropolitan area network: a network that consists of a collection of local area networks (LANs) that span a metropolitan area and route all packets through Internet Protocol. Imagine three offices throughout the town. They are powered with their own LAN. An IP MAN connects those three LANs, allowing staff in any building to access the same files, apps, and servers at top speed. A difference in size is what distinguishes the MAN from its neighbours. A LAN is confined to a single building. A wide area network (WAN) is a network that covers a large geographical area, such as across countries. A MAN is positioned between, typically 5–50 kilometers, so it’s a city, a university put on several sites, or a group of hospitals having clinics spread out around town. This ‘IP’ component is as significant as this ‘metropolitan’ component. Older metro networks failed to communicate directly with the internet and operated their own transport protocols. The IP MAN avoids that translation step. Your traffic knows the language of the Internet, so it’s one less hop to connect to cloud platforms, remote offices, or the public Web. Why Businesses Feel the Pain Without One Not many companies actively search for an IP MAN. With the same wall to slam, they find themselves in the need of one. These are not individual issues. All are caused by a single issue: your organization has reached the limits of a LAN, yet hasn’t reached the global scope of a WAN. An IP MAN is the perfect fit for that space. How Does an IP Metropolitan Area Network Work? All LANs are connected by an IP MAN to a common fiber backbone and then traffic is directed between the LANs via IP addressing. This is the trajectory of the data as it is transported: It’s like an urban transit system. These are the bus stops in each building. The backbone of the metro is the principal road that ties all the stops together. Buses (your data packets) follow IP addresses, just like passengers follow route numbers, and both always arrive at the right stop, without getting in each other’s way. What Powers the Backbone There are several transport technologies that can be used to carry IP traffic across a metro network, and most organizations are using more than one of these technologies: A regional bank could use Metro Ethernet to connect 30 branches. A city government could use a provider-provisioned IP/MPLS service on top of the dark fiber to enable the connection between all public buildings in the city. Both configurations are considered to be an IP MAN, but they’re simply sized according to your needs. IP MAN vs. LAN vs. WAN Factor LAN IP MAN WAN Coverage One building A city (5–50 km) Countries or continents Typical speed 100 Mbps–10 Gbps 1 Gbps–100 Gbps Varies, often slower per link Backbone Ethernet, Wi-Fi Fiber, Metro Ethernet MPLS, leased lines, satellite Ownership Single company One company or shared with a carrier Usually leased from carriers Best for A single office Multi-site organizations in one city National or global operations A WAN-level reach with a WAN-level cost and delay, is provided by an IP MAN if your offices are located in one city. Once you enter another country you truly do need a WAN. Most companies go straight to a WAN when an IP MAN would have done the job with less expenses and complexity. Real Benefits You Can Measure Challenges to Plan For If you’re not aware of the trade-offs when you’re designing an IP MAN, you could end up with unexpected expenses down the road: All of these do not preclude an IP MAN. It’s just that you should build security and capacity in from the beginning, rather than stacking them on in the back. Where IP MANs Are Used Today Conclusion The idea behind an IP metropolitan area network is to provide organizations located throughout a metropolitan area with the speed and shared access that a single LAN cannot provide, but at the cost and complexity of a full WAN. If you’re tired of slow transfers, higher leased-line bills, or disconnected IT systems when you’re in one metro area but looking to move to another in the same metro area, an IP MAN is sure to help. Match the network to the real distance to be covered. If the IP MAN stays within one city, then his cost will be retrieved fast. Enter a different country, and it’s time to consider using a WAN.  Frequently Asked Questions