Global Area Network

A global area network ( GAN ) is a network that can connect multiple wide area networks over unlimited geographical distances . This can be, for example, the networking of global locations of an international company. Satellite or fiber optic transmission is often used in a GAN.

The term GAN is rarely used compared to Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN). GAN is not the direct name for the Internet , since theoretically there can be several GANs isolated and independent, but the Internet is a global network without (significant) subdivisions. So the internet is a GAN, but not every GAN is called an internet.

The Inmarsat-M4 infrastructure operated by the telecommunications company Inmarsat and Inmarsat-BGAN ( Broadband Global Area Network ) are also referred to as GANs , but apart from the common name, they have little to do with the Global Area Network, as they can transmit IP data , but this is only realized through a higher layer and not necessarily.