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The term '''gateway''' has had various incompatible meanings in [[data network]]ing over time.

In the early days of the work on what later became the [[Internet]], it was the term used for the devices later named [[router]]s; the name was changed because of the existence of other types of devices (below) also called 'gateways'.

[[Application]] [[layer]] devices which allowed users on one side access to similar, but different, services on the other side were also commonly called 'gateways'; [[email]] gateways between various 'walled garden' email systems were especially common.

{{disambiguation}}

[[Category: Networking Basics]]