Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!iuvax!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!geneva.rutgers.edu!hedrick From: hedrick@geneva.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans Subject: Re: BRIDGE's (ROUTER's) (GATEWAY's) Keywords: Distinction Message-ID: Date: 8 Aug 89 03:43:23 GMT References: <11146@ibmpcug.UUCP> <1527@ns.network.com> Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Lines: 11 Note that the term "gateway" was used for many years in the IP literature for a device that switches datagrams at OSI level 3, i.e. what is often referred to now as a "router". Use of the term "gateway" for an application-level entity seems to be an ISO-ism. It's probably too late to convince the ISO community not to use "gateway" in a manner that conflicts with previously established IP usage. So I'm afraid that "gateway" now has to be considered ambiguous. Unless the meaning is clear from context, I recommend using "router" for the level 3 entity and some more explicit term for the level 7 entity, e.g. "application-level gateway" or "protocol-translating gateway".