IP and MAC addressing
2. Addressing
The suggestion on the previous page of giving each device a simple number identity is fine in theory but in practice it has to be a bit more complicated. Because
- The numbering scheme has to be 'computer friendly'
- The scheme has to handle a vast amount of devices
- The scheme has to deal with more than one network
![internet and network](../../../../../images/diagrams/internet_network.jpg)
In terms of being 'computer friendly', the numbering scheme should be based on binary numbers, as that is what computers are designed to use.
A 32 bit binary number addressing scheme called 'IP' or 'Internet Protocol' was agreed upon more that fourty years ago and it has allowed the internet to become the planet-wide network it is today.