End-to-end principle
The end-to-end principle is one of the central design principles of the Internet Protocol that is the basis of the Internet.
It argues that reliable systems require end-to-end processing to operate correctly. Given this fact, much intermediate processing can be made simpler, relying on the end-to-end checks to make the system work. This leads to the model of a "dumb network" with smart terminals, a completely different model to the previous paradigm of the smart network with dumb terminals.
For example, in the TCP/IP protocol stack, IP is a dumb stateless protocol operating across the network, and TCP is a smart end-to-end protocol operating between the client computers.
This paradigm was first made economically possible and then economically inevitable by the collapse in computer prices made possible by microprocessors.