Internet protocol

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

Internet Protocol
IP

   <networking> (IP) The {network layer} for the {TCP/IP}
   {protocol} suite widely used on {Ethernet} networks, defined
   in {STD} 5, {RFC} 791.  IP is a {connectionless},
   {best-effort} {packet switching} protocol.  It provides
   {packet} {routing}, {fragmentation} and re-assembly through
   the {data link layer}.

   IPv4 is the version in widespread use and {IPv6} was just
   beginning to come into use in 2000 but is still not widespread
   by 2008.

   [Other versions?  Dates?]

   (2000-12-19)