Writing this series for you guys, and receiving so much positive feedback on our communication efforts, gives us, as a team, tremendous pleasure as it seems we’re doing a good job. Much appreciated.

In another train of thoughts, what better way to wrap-up this week than with a short pill from our #IP Dictionary. As we’ve already spoken about what Internet Protocol is and who’s the boss of them all (check out our last pill explaining the Internet Protocol concept), now’s the time to tell a few words about IP utility. Or, in short, why do IP addresses matter and what is their importance.

Briefly, an IP address provides an identity to a networked device or an assembly of websites on a networked device (a bunch of websites hosted on the same server for example). To give you a crystal clear image, it’s similar to a home or business address that supplies a specific physical location with an identifiable address. The same goes for devices in a network, which are differentiated from one another through IP addresses.

Besides, IP addresses allow devices to communicate with each other without any human input.

Another attribute of IP addresses is that it functions like a layer of protection and greater security and reliability for anything that you put on the Internet. Because the IP is an address, anyone who’s doing anything offensive or illegal on the Internet, can be identified and held responsible .

At its core, the Internet has been developed like a decentralized space where, if one part of the ecosystem disappears, the Internet will still be able to function because of all these IPs that know how to communicate with one another.

So, without an IP, your device couldn’t reach the Internet, nor could the Internet reach you.

We’ll end it here for today, but not before reminding you to check out the last pills in our series: Internet Governance and Internet Protocol.

Until next time, let’s keep in touch on Telegram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Kuende and don’t forget that if you have any other terms you’d like us to explain, all you have to do is leave a comment below and we’ll have them explained for you.

Cheers!