Campus Network
What is a Campus Network? or sometimes called Campus Area Network? It is a computer network that spans a limited geographical area. It consists of either a single local area network (LAN), or an interconnection of multiple LANs. This is where end users typically connect to the network. The owner of the campus typically owns the networking equipment and communications link, be it a university, an enterprise, or a government office. End users, using either desktop computers, laptop computers, smartphones, or tablets, connect to the campus network via wireless access points (AP), or via wired links for the computers.
Typically, campus end users need to be authenticated before they can gain entry to the network. Authentication can be done by 802.1X or captive portal web login, and access level will be granted after authentication.
With the proliferation of BYOD in the campus, security requirement has changed. Users tend to prefer devices that they are familiar with, rather than enterprise provided devices. And with this the danger of an infected device getting into the network has increased. With network access control (NAC) solutions, devices are profiled if the software patches and end-user firewall are up to date before granting access to the network.
A typical campus network contains:
- Core Network Infrastructure (routers, switches, firewalls, access points (AP)
- Servers (Email, Web, Network Storage Devices, Directory Servers)
- End-User devices (desktop and laptop computers, tablets, smartphones)
- Network attached enterprise devices (IP phones, IP printers, IP wall led displays)
Data Center Network
A data center network is made up of interconnected high-port-density and low-latency switches, routers, and other components, architected with built-in redundancy, providing high-speed, high computational power to handle large data loads inside a data center.
A Data Center is basically a facility housing interconnected network devices (routers, switches, firewall, load balancers, servers, network storage), and used by organizations to deliver applications and services. It is either an enterprise or organization owned physical facility located somewhere, or is cloud-based via a cloud service provider such as AWS, Azure, Google, etc.
A Data Center network differs from a Campus Network by its architecture, purpose, technologies used, and scalability. It is designed to process data at high speeds and deliver application service, use virtualization or cloud computing power, highly scalable to meet application demands.
A data center network can be designed using three-tiered hierarchical model, Spine-Leaf, or hybrid architecture. Unlike in a campus network, where traffic flows from North-South, traffic in a Data Center network can flow North-South, East-West. And security focuses more on data integrity, availability, and threat prevention.
Summary
In short, an enterprise network connects end devices and users within an organization, enabling communication, collaboration, and access to shared resources. Main focus is providing connectivity to resources inside the enterprise network, the internet or other enterprise networks.
A data center network connects servers, storage, and network equipment within a data center. It is focused more on high speed low latency communication between servers.
If you’re curious about the different types of networks—and want to explore network engineering roles beyond just campus and data center environments—this is a great place to start. Learn about roles in cloud networking, service providers, wireless, security, automation, and more as the field continues to evolve beyond traditional boundaries.
