Editing Internet Protocol (section)

{{Short description|Communication protocol that allows connections between networks}}
{{IPstack}}
{{Internet history timeline}}

The '''Internet Protocol''' ('''IP''') is the [[network layer]] [[communications protocol]] in the [[Internet protocol suite]] for relaying [[datagram]]s across network boundaries. Its [[routing]] function enables [[internetworking]], and essentially establishes the [[Internet]].

IP has the task of delivering [[Packet (information technology)|packets]] from the source [[Host (network)|host]] to the destination host solely based on the [[IP address]]es in the packet [[Header (computing)|headers]]. For this purpose, IP defines packet structures that [[encapsulation (networking)|encapsulate]] the data to be delivered. It also defines addressing methods that are used to label the datagram with source and destination information.
IP was the [[connectionless]] datagram service in the original ''[[Transmission Control Program]]'' introduced by [[Vint Cerf]] and [[Bob Kahn]] in 1974, which was complemented by a [[connection-oriented]] service that became the basis for the [[Transmission Control Protocol]] (TCP). The Internet protocol suite is therefore often referred to as ''TCP/IP''.

The first major version of IP, [[Internet Protocol version 4]] (IPv4), is the dominant protocol of the Internet. Its successor is [[Internet Protocol version 6]] (IPv6), which has been in increasing [[IPv6 deployment|deployment]] on the public Internet since around 2006.<ref>{{Cite report|publisher=OECD|date=2014-11-06|title=The Economics of Transition to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6)|series=OECD Digital Economy Papers|url=https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/science-and-technology/the-economics-of-transition-to-internet-protocol-version-6-ipv6_5jxt46d07bhc-en|language=en|doi=10.1787/5jxt46d07bhc-en|doi-access=free|access-date=2020-12-04|archive-date=2021-03-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307213313/https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/science-and-technology/the-economics-of-transition-to-internet-protocol-version-6-ipv6_5jxt46d07bhc-en|url-status=live}}</ref>