What is an IP Address?

An IP Address (Internet Protocol Address) is a series of four numbers separated by dots that acts as an address for networked devices such as computers, routers, gateways, and printers. Any device that is connected to another device requires its own unique IP address in order to properly communicate across a particular network. This includes everything from computers that share files across your home network, to your laptop connecting to Google.
IP Addresses take the following format – 72.14.207.99 with each three number section not being more than 255.

Most people are familiar with networked devices only in the context of browsing the internet. Most people also navigate by using links to domain names (such as www.ip-info.net). Domain names themselves however are not an efficient way to communicate between computers, and as such every client and server also includes their IP – and IP Addresses are then assigned to domain names by something called a DNS Server (Domain Name Server). The IP address for www.ip-info.net is actually:

72.14.207.99

And the two are exchangeable. If you take the above IP address, and copy it into your browser, it will resolve to www.google.com. Because humans are terrible at remembering strings of numbers, we created domain names to help mark certain servers more easily. In a way this is analogous to a phone directory where every networked device will look up a domain name to find the correct number.