A Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is a type of network that spans over an
area larger than a building. MANs are common at
universities and other places where the
network is too big to be considered as a
Local Area Network. MANs were originally meant to span a
city (which is the reason for its name), but large companies and universities also use this definition of their network, due to its size.
A MAN is commonly used for connecting
LANs (i.e. connect the LANs of each building in a campus). These MANs frequently use
optical fibres, and when used in a city, running cables through
subway-tunnels is a popular solution.
NOTE: A MAN is not the same as a WAN!