T
he Cisco IOS WAN can support many different WAN pro-
tocols that can help you extend your LANs to other LANs at remote sites.
Connecting company sites together so information can be exchanged is
imperative in today's economy. However, it would take a truckload of money
to put in your own cable or connections to connect all of your company's
remote locations. Service providers allow you to lease or share connec-
tions that they already have installed, which can save money and time.
It is important to understand the different types of WAN support pro-
vided by Cisco. Although this chapter does not cover every type of Cisco
WAN support, it does cover the HDLC, PPP, Frame Relay, and ISDN
protocols.
Wide Area Networks
T
o understand WAN technologies, you first need to understand the
different WAN terms and connection types that can be used to connect your
networks together. This section will discuss the different WAN terms and
connection types typically used by service providers.
Defining WAN Terms
Before you order a WAN service type, it is important to understand the terms
that the service providers use.
CPE
Equipment that is owned by the subscriber and located at the sub-
scriber's premises is called
customer premises equipment (CPE)
.
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