What is an "operator int" function?

What is the "operator int" function below? What does it do?

class INT
{
   int a;

public:
   INT(int ix = 0)
   {
      a = ix;
   }

   /* Starting here: */
   operator int()
   {
      return a;
   }
   /* End */

   INT operator ++(int)
   {
      return a++;
   }
};