The IP address assigned to a computer by the network or an IP address assigned to a network device by the vendor of the product. Computers in a local network are assigned IP addresses within a range of internal addresses set aside for such purposes (see
DHCP and
private IP address).
Network devices are set to a single default IP address; for example, Linksys routers are typically assigned an IP address of 192.168.1.1. The default address is left intact by most users, but can be changed to suit a more complex network architecture. See
default gateway and
IP address.