IP - Creativyst(R) Glossary of developer terms.

Internet Protocol - The protocol used to perform unreliable communications over most data based networks in use today. This protocol is the lower of the two protocols that comprise the TCP/IP protocol stack.

IP provides UNRELIABLE services. Unreliable service does not guarantee that a packet sent will actually be delivered, nor does it guarantee that you will be informed if your packet does not make it to its intended destination. For this reason, low-level protocols of this type are often referred to as "send and pray" protocols. In the case of the Internet, another higher level protocol has been defined (TCP) which uses the transport services of the unreliable IP as the basis to produce a RELIABLE transport. Yes, a reliable transport can be built ON TOP OF an unreliable transport service.

See: RFC0791 / STD0005 For the RFC that defines IP

There are different versions of IP. The version most widely used at this time is IPv4. It uses 32 bit addresses which limit it to addressing about four billion total machines. Each address represents one computer (historically refered to as 'hosts'). This will not be enough as computing becomes more ubiquitous.

Because IPv4 has a limit of about four billion addresses, a new version of IP has been approved for use on the Internet. It is called IPv6. These two versions can (and do) co-exist on the Internet today.

	Internet Protocol - The protocol used to perform unreliable communications over most data based networks in use today. This protocol is the lower of the two protocols that comprise the TCP/IP protocol stack. IP provides UNRELIABLE services. Unreliable service does not guarantee that a packet sent will actually be delivered, nor does it guarantee that you will be informed if your packet does not make it to its intended destination. For this reason, low-level protocols of this type are often referred to as "send and pray" protocols. In the case of the Internet, another higher level protocol has been defined (TCP) which uses the transport services of the unreliable IP as the basis to produce a RELIABLE transport. Yes, a reliable transport can be built ON TOP OF an unreliable transport service. See: RFC0791 / STD0005 For the RFC that defines IP There are different versions of IP. The version most widely used at this time is IPv4. It uses 32 bit addresses which limit it to addressing about four billion total machines. Each address represents one computer (historically refered to as 'hosts'). This will not be enough as computing becomes more ubiquitous. Because IPv4 has a limit of about four billion addresses, a new version of IP has been approved for use on the Internet. It is called IPv6. These two versions can (and do) co-exist on the Internet today.
	IPv4 TCP/IP TCP