Wholesale computer hardware and network equipment shops

LAN networking hardware supplies.

 A LAN hardware supplies networking capability to a group of computers in close proximity to each other such as in an office building, a school, or a home. LANs are useful for sharing files, providing access to printers and access to the Net (among other things).

 Most LANs are built with relatively inexpensive hardware such as Ethernet cable and network interface cards (although wireless and other options exist). Specialized operating system software is also often used to configure a LAN. For example, some flavors of Microsoft Windows -- including Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000, and Windows ME -- come with a package called Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) that support controlled access to resources on the network.

A network adapter interfaces a computer to a network. The term was popularized originally by Ethernet add-in cards for PCs. Nowadays, most people use "network adapter" in a broader sense to include PCMCIA devices (also know as credit card or PC Card adapters) and analogous wireless devices. Some network adapters are software packages that simulate the functions of a network card. These so-called virtual adapters are especially common in virtual private networking (VPN).