ADDRESS TRANSLATOR

摘要

The present invention concerns network address translation, and provides apparatus for providing communication between a network device in a first network and a network device in a second network, where the first network operates in accordance with a first communication protocol and the second network operates in accordance with a second communication protocol. The apparatus comprises (i) first means for assigning an alias to a target netwo rk device in the first network, the alias being compatible with the communicati on protocol of the second network ; (ii) second means for translating said assigned alias to an address for the target network device, said translated address being compatible with the communication protocol of the first networ k, wherein the first means and the second means are separately addressable in o ne or both of said networks, and said assigned alias corresponds to an address of the second means, such that, when a network device in the second network sen ds one or more communication(s) using an address comprising the assigned alias, the or each communication is routed to the second means, whereupon the secon d means translates the alias into the address of the target network device in the first network and sends the communication(s) into the first network.