Border Gateway Protocol

As of January 2006, there were only 39,934 networks having an AS (Autonomous System) number assigned by the regional Internet registries, such as ARIN or RIPE. Only networks that hold such a number form the backbone of the Internet, and only routers between these core networks run the BGP protocol. This protocol is used to exchange routing information between the border routers. The routing information passed with this protocol allows IP packets to find their path through the Internet.

See Also: Internet; Internet Protocol (IP); Packet; Routers.