Besides using them for name servers and anonymous FTP. What can they be used for?

I see some hosting companies offer that, but why? :idea:

oh yes, and SSL too. Anything else?

Nothing else.

Mainly because customers ask for it. Why? Beats me. There have been long arguements for and against a dedciated IP on this forum and some people said:

My site looks more professional with a dedicated IP :emlaugh: :emlaugh:

And with an IP, your site is viewable even when your DNS is hozed for some ungodly reason.

Originally posted by NexDog
And with an IP, your site is viewable even when your DNS is hozed for some ungodly reason.

Many hosts now allow you to view your web site under hostname.com/~yourname as well, so you can view your web site if your DNS is messed up even without having a dedicated IP.

As has been said, a dedicated IP is only needed for:
1. Anonymous FTP
2. SSL

Search engine positioning used to be an issue, but now search engines no longer ban IP addresses automatically, only domains.

There are other issues:

Some organizations refuse to order web hosting unless they get their own IP address. They base this on the idea that if other organizations are sharing the same IP address, that it is possible that their web site could be banned by NetNanny or placed into certain spam black hole lists, by fault of one of the sites sharing the IP address.

Also, you can setup "reverse" lookups against the IP address to show the organization's domain name, instead of the web hosting providers.