difference between WAN and site-to-site VPN | WAN vs Site-to-site VPN
This page compares WAN vs site-to-site VPN and mentions difference between WAN and site-to-site VPN. WAN stands for Wide Area Network and VPN stands for Virtual Private Network. The useful links to difference between various terms are provided here.
Traditional WAN-Wide Area Network

WAN
Figure-1 depicts WAN. WAN is the short form of Wide Area Network or Networking. Following are the characteristics of WAN.
• Large network consisting geographically distant offices.
• Connection of LANs, MANs and cellular network etc.
• Supports coverage of 10s to 1000s of Kms.
• Transmission medium include fiber optics, wireless, coaxial cable etc.
• Speed of operation depends on transmission medium.
• Include cellular technologies such as GSM, WiMAX, LTE etc.
Refer difference between LAN,MAN and WAN.
Site-to-Site VPN

Figure-2 depicts Site-to-Site VPN. VPN is the short form of Virtual Private Network.
Following are the characteristics of VPN.
• It uses ISDN, Frame Relay or ATM networks
• It has been designed to replace traditional WAN
Refer what is VPN and How does it work.
Networking Links
• Circuit Switching vs Packet switching • Packet Switching vs Message switching • What is an IP address • What is MAC Address • Basics of OSI and TCP-IP Layers • What is Hub • What is Switch • What is Bridge • What is Router • What is Gateway • Firewall basics • TCP-IP Packet format • ARP Protocol format
What is Difference between
FTP vs HTTP FTP vs SMTP FTP vs TFTP hub Vs. switch TCP vs UDP