A passive optical LAN, called POL or POLAN, is short for Passive Optical Local Area Network. It utilizes optical splitters to distribute data from one single source to multiple user endpoints. Not having a long history as a passive optical network (PON), it is a better replacement for copper-based LANs in local area networks. In practice, PONs are typically used for the last mile between Internet service providers (ISP) and their customers.