INTERNETWORK

Internetworking involves connecting two or more computer networks via gateways using a common routing technology. The result is called an internetwork. The term has historically been contracted to internet.

The most notable example of internetworking is the Internet, a network of networks based on many underlying hardware technologies, but unified by an internetworking protocol standard, the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP).

The network elements used to connect individual networks are known as routers, but were originally called gateways, a term that was deprecated in this context, due to confusion with functionally different devices using the same name.