Network Address Translation

ALSO CALLED: NAT
DEFINITION: NAT (Network Address Translation or Network Address Translator) is the translation of an Internet Protocol address (IP address) used within one network to a different IP address known within another network. One network is designated the inside network and the other is the outside. Typically, a company maps its local inside network addresses to one or more global outside IP addresses and unmaps the  … 
Definition continues below.

NETWORK ADDRESS TRANSLATION DEFINITION (continued): …  global IP addresses on incoming packets back into local IP addresses. This helps ensure security since each outgoing or incoming request must go through a translation process that also offers the opportunity to qualify or authenticate the request or match it to a previous request. NAT also conserves on the number of global IP addresses that a company needs and it lets the company use a single IP address in its communication with the world.NAT is included as part of a router and is often part of a corporate firewall. Network administrators create a NAT table that does the global-to-local and … 
Network Address Translation definition sponsored by SearchEnterpriseWAN.com, powered by WhatIs.com an online computer dictionary