A Wide Area Network can be defined as a Data Communications Network whose communications links cross metropolitan, regional, or national boundaries. If we examine it from the perspective of the user, there is not much difference in the Wide Area Networks (WANs), and the Local Area Networks (LANs). Through this, the user is able to share a document, spread sheet, presentation etc., with another user in real time by just copying it to his/her workstation, or by giving the other user access to his/her computer. It works as if you are sitting in the same geographical location.

Considering the advantages, let us see how this can be beneficial for your business. If the nature of your business is such that you have to have offices in disparate locations, another city, country, or continent, you are faced with the possibility of document management spanning different locations. The people working in your different offices in different geographical locations may need support from each other, or might need to collaborate on different projects in real time.

Connecting your LANs (via leased lines, dedicated circuit, Virtual Private Networks etc.) can create a WAN allowing you to work across it seamlessly. Projects that span the globe require constant interaction of the resources involved with it. People might need real time teleconferencing or require updating the main office with reports.

Even if your requirement is not to connect to another office, it could be that your business needs to order supplies or material from across town on a regular basis and the supplier's network is capable of interfacing with yours. Another scenario would be if your many customers want to track their orders in real time and want to be connected to your servers.

This would again create a wide area network using internet connectivity as a medium. Throughout the world, more and more people are opting to work from home. They connect to their offices thus creating a WAN whenever they do. They are using applications that reside partly on their computers and partly on the office's servers. The best benefit from this is that your employees can still be productive while staying at home.

One of the most classic examples of wide area networks is present banking. You can cash your cheques at any subdivision of your bank, as if each branch maintains your bank account. By means of your ATM card is an additional illustration. It is WAN facility that gives you the resource to use your ATM card all across the complete ATM network instantly.

Almost every multi-national business is now connected through WANs. A central management is used for user access controls, and security. Similarly, document, memos, requests, emails are managed the same way. Increasingly, businesses that are connected through WANs are using a central database to store company data, but are backing it up elsewhere. In this way, you will always have a backup of your data in case of any disaster such as a fire, destruction of office, etc.

Most of the centrally maintained corporate blogs are like the bulletin boards of the past, keeping employees abreast of happenings, and future events, which needs to be constantly updated. Apart from the businesses, the modern universities, and schools are now maintaining WANS across their many campuses, thus allowing the existence of one big educational centre. Through this, the students can check their grades, schedules, and events across campuses.