Having worked its way through around 600 000 domain applications, DENIC now feels that it can declare the introductory phase for IDNs in Germany to be at an end. And it has been a success. Since 1 March 2004, it has been possible to apply for internationalized domain names (IDNs) below the Top Level Domain .de. More than 130 000 new domains have been registered with DENIC during the past 48 hours – an absolute record. Never before have DENIC and its members had to cope with such a huge influx of domain applications. From the technical angle, switching the registry’s systems over to the new Internet standard, IDN¸ has been a massive challenge, but it has been achieved on schedule.

The first domain with an umlaut to complete the registration process shortly after the starting signal at 10.00 on 1 March 2004 was öko.de. Registration is being handled strictly according to the principle of “first come, first served”. A total of 92 additional letters are now available for use in .de domains. It is easy to find out if a particular domain is still free by visiting DENIC’s website at www.denic.de and selecting “Domain query/whois”.