A link that seems and behaves like a dedicated point to point line or a system that delivers packets in sequence, as happens on an actual point to point network. In reality, the data is delivered across a network via the most appropriate route. The sending and receiving devices do not have to be aware of the options and the route is chosen only when a message is sent. There is no prearrangement, so each virtual connection exists only for the duration of that one transmission. Virtual LAN A logical rather than a physical LAN comprising workgroups drawn together for business reasons or for a particular project irrespective of each member's actual location.
Members are likely to belong to several such LANs as their job function dictates.
Such LANs await the maturity of high-speed transmission technologies such as ATM before they can exist in any viable form. Ad hoc groups of users formed to solve particular problems without taking them away from their desks. A useful option made feasible with groupware. Virtual company Company built on the basis of teleworking with limited central office administration. Made possible by improved communications and groupware software, it is a phenomenon of the future.