An IP Address or "Internet Protocol Address" is the address of a
device that is connected to a network. The device is normally a
personal computer (i.e. client) or a server computer.
An IP Address can either be static or dynamic. Server computers and
network device that need to be accessed by multiple clients normally use
static addresses. Personal computer connected to the Internet
could either have a static or dynamic IP address. For example,
each time a "dial-up" telephone connection is made to a hosting company,
a different IP address is normally assigned for that one session.
High speed cable connections, however, often involve static connections.
Registries such as ARIN (the American Registry for Internet Numbers)
are responsible for assigning blocks of IP addresses to organizations
that are then free to allocate the addresses as they like.
