A global manufacturing company has offices in multiple countries. They want to interconnect their sites to enable seamless communication and data…

A Wide Area Network (WAN) is the appropriate network type for an organization with geographically dispersed sites across multiple countries. By definition, a WAN spans a large geographical area, interconnecting multiple Local Area Networks (LANs) from different locations. This infrastructure is essential for a global company to facilitate seamless communication, share data, and centralize resources. Modern WAN technologies, such as SD-WAN and MPLS, are specifically designed to provide the high reliability and security required for inter-office connectivity over long distances.

B. Metropolitan Area Network (MAN): A MAN is designed to cover a geographic area smaller than a WAN, such as a single city or a large campus, making it unsuitable for a global company.

C. Personal Area Network (PAN): A PAN is a very small-scale network used for connecting personal devices (e.g., via Bluetooth) and is not applicable for interconnecting corporate offices.

D. Local Area Network (LAN): A LAN is confined to a limited area like a single office building. While each office would have its own LAN, a WAN is required to connect these individual LANs.

1. Kurose, J. F., & Ross, K. W. (2021). Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach (8th ed.). Pearson. In Chapter 1, Section 1.3, "The Network Core," the text distinguishes network types by scale, defining a WAN as a network that spans a large geographical area, such as a country or continent.

2. Stallings, W. (2017). Data and Computer Communications (10th ed.). Pearson. Chapter 1, Section 1.4, "Wide Area Networks," explicitly states that WANs provide long-distance transmission of data and are used to connect geographically distributed sites, which directly matches the scenario.

3. Tanenbaum, A. S., & Wetherall, D. J. (2011). Computer Networks (5th ed.). Prentice Hall. In Section 1.2.3, "Wide Area Networks," the authors describe a WAN as a network that "spans a large geographical area, often a country or continent," and is used to connect machines that could be "many thousands of kilometers apart."