IP addresses are 32 bit numbers identifying a computer or networked device on the Internet. You’ve probably seen an IP address at some point when setting up a router in your home—it’s a series of numbers with four dots separating four parts of the sequence.

Using the home router example, your router’s IP address identifies it on the internet so it can make connections and ‘talk’ to other computers, routers and devices on the internet.

Because there’s a limited number of IP addresses available currently, internet service providers use something called ‘dynamic’ IP addresses. When you connect to the internet, you are ‘leased’ an IP address by your ISP. That IP address is then returned to the available pool of IP addresses, usually at the end of your connection. This allows the ISPs to have more customers than available IP addresses.

Most internet functions work without static IPs, including web browsing, email, and VOIP. However, your business might need one or more static IPs if you use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to remotely connect to your computers, have external devices or services that must connect to your network via IP address rather than domain name, or if you maintain your own web server (such as an email server) that requires users to connect from the internet.

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