managed router services A wide-area network, or WAN, connects and communicates with multiple local-area networks, or LANs. These LANs provide service to separate locations within a business’s overall communications structure, and the WAN is the system that oversees the entire structure at once. A WAN needs to be high-functioning, to deliver top performance, and to remain stable at all times. Often, a business has too much to do running itself to devote much time or many resources to managing its WAN, which is where a company that can provide managed router services comes in.