IP address

Unique 32-bit long code number which each computer acquires automatically through its internet access provider (IAP) for connecting to the internet. This address is in 'a.b.c.d' format where each letter (separated by a period) is a number with value from 0 to 255. However, every computer connected to the internet also has a domain name (consisting of a maximum of 20 alphanumeric characters) which is easier to remember than its associated IP address. Specialized computers (called 'domain name servers' translate the domain names into their corresponding IP addresses so that the recipient (target) computers can be located and the data is correctly routed. Also called web address. See also uniform resource locator.