What Exactly is an IP? by Graham Pendegrast

IP means "internet protocol." IP is really a fancy term that refers to the rules or regulations that take care of the communication across a network. If you think of the example of an imaginary telephone when you were younger, involving the two cans and the piece of string between them, you could illustrate protocol as the string between the two cans. It governs the communication between the cans, essentially.

Ethernet is a data linkage that governs the network layer protocol known as IP. Ethernet consists of a series of computer technologies and properties used across Local Area Networks (or LANs). Ethernet generally provides each user with a unique global internet protocol (or IP) address. IP is basically the global address of your computer, and is concerned with the ultimate destination of information while Ethernet is concerned with the immediate next step in data transfer. Using the aforementioned metaphor of a child's phone, the Ethernet is focused on the two cans as opposed to the string.

IPv4 was the first version of IP to be widely used globally. IPv4 is, as you'd guess from the name, the 4th version of internet protocol; it now coexists with IPv6 on the internet today. The only forms of internet protocol that can be used on the WWW are IPv6 and IPv4. IPv4, and other internet protocols, offer no guarantees but do promise "best effort delivery." Actually, the "best effort delivery" protocol produces neither improved delivery nor a reliable standard of service or connectivity. This philosophy is somewhat analogous to a real-world post office. While the post office's operations are efficient and all available resources are utilized to ensure one receives their mail, there's also no guarantee of timely delivery.

IP has a lack of data guarantee, but it can also end up corrupting data, losing connectivity to a network or not granting it at all, doubling up on the arrival of some data connectivity pings to a network, and even losing some of the connection packets in the middle of a process. It certainly does not seem very reliable. The comparison to IP data connectivity is to the post office. There are no guarantees that the message will arrive in any set period of time because of outside possibilities interfering, but as long as the address is right the mail will eventually make it to the right place. These issues can be a concern for the newest technologies, including voip conference calls or voip systems.

IP, while seemingly complex, simply provides a set of rules and regulations in the world of technology that enables data the ability to transmit across a given network, going as far as to include voice over ip services. This happens because the computers in the network have IP addresses and can function within the network's regulations. IP governs these addresses and the involvement of the address with the regulations, transferring data around the network.
About the Author

Graham Pendegrast supports small and medium growing business for technical needs. While he does a lot of it himself, he recommends Integral Networks for Sacramento computer service support and IT consulting help for dealing with computer networking and Sacramento data backup issues for your business.