Bouncer ( English bouncer , BNC ) - a program that allows you to maintain constant irc-sessions even when you disconnect the final irc-client on the user device. Most bouncers also have the ability to multiple connections of one user from different devices, as well as the sharing of a single bouncer by several different users with different credentials.
Some BNC programs allow you to hide the real address in the IRC , but usually the standard configuration involves transferring the real name of the irc client and IP address to the IRC network. The IRC standard itself does not imply such an opportunity; various protocol extensions are used for this, for example CTCP.
With the decline in popularity of IRC networks, the bulk of users of BNC programs began to be representatives of the IT sphere. Bouncers are mainly located on working and personal dedicated servers, there are practically no public BNCs.
Popular bouncers are psyBNC, ezbounce, and ZNC.