Network 

In its simplest form, a wide-area network (WAN) is a collection of local area networks (LANs) or other networks that communicate with one another.  A WAN is essentially a network of networks, with the Internet the world's largest WAN.

These networks are often established by service providers that then lease their WAN to businesses, schools, governments or the public. These customers can use the network to relay and store data or communicate with other users, no matter their location, as long as they have access to the established WAN. Access can be granted via different links, such as virtual private networks (VPNs) or lines, wireless networks, cellular networks or internet access.

There are many different forms of area networks, but one of the most common networks outside of a Wide Area Network (WAN) is the Local Area Network, or LAN.

WAN's can exist globally, without correlation to a physical location through the use of a leased network provider, LAN's exist within a limited area. LAN's can be used to access a greater WAN (such as the internet), but only within the area where the LAN’s infrastructure can reach. 

Multi-Cloud Connectivity are direct, secure, and dedicated connections between your network and a cloud service provider of your choice.

Direct Cloud Connections provide the high reliability of a private network.  You no longer need to rely on network providers for connections for each cloud provider. You also have access to a more diverse supplier ecosystem that can centralize resources to support rapid access to the public cloud. You'll have better visibility into operations and applications. Connecting directly can even help improve unified communication and collaboration services, which are increasingly critical to productivity for enterprises.

According to the SANS Institute, network security is the process of taking preventative measures to protect the underlying networking infrastructure from unauthorized access, misuse, malfunction, modification, destruction or improper disclosure. Implementing these measures allows computers, users and programs to perform their permitted critical functions within a secure environment.

Securing a network requires a complex combination of hardware devices, such as routers, firewalls and anti-malware software applications. Government agencies and businesses employ highly skilled information security analysts to implement security plans and constantly monitor the efficacy of these plans.

Network security is important because it keeps sensitive data safe from cyber attacks and ensures that the network is usable and can be trusted.

Network security management may involve a wide variety of security tools, for both hardware and software.