On 26 November 2010 another milestone was reached – DENIC registered the 14 millionth .de domain. It has the melodious name corangeli-glas-design. "A .de domain is just the right choice for me." says the domain holder, Angelika Busch. "My design ideas are intended mainly for a local clientele, and here .de is very well known and has a very good reputation. Thus, a .de domain is exactly the right medium for me to share my enthusiasm for the raw material glass with others. I can start small and gradually extend my web presence. This is just what I need." For Germans, having their own domains is very attractive: At present, every sixth inhabitant of the German Republic has registered a .de domain, and the number is constantly growing.

From informal domain administration to the largest ccTLD worldwide

What started very small in the year 1986 when .de was registered in the IANA database, has evolved into a real success story. In the beginning, domain administration is executed by a network operator located in the USA. In 1988, it is transferred to the University of Dortmund. At that time the total inventory of .de amounts to a mere six domains. Domain administration is carried out relatively informally. The names and associated computer addresses are entered manually into a list, which, however, grows at a quickening pace. At the beginning of 1997, 37 German Internet service providers found DENIC eG. The number of addresses then registered totals around 50,000, in April 1999 this figure has climbed to half a million. This development continues: The annual average growth rate of the recent years has been about 1 million domains – an impressive number. Just under 520,000 domains include special characters such as umlauts or letters with accents; they are called IDNs (Internationalised Domain Names).

At the end of October/beginning of November 2010, domain growth gained particular momentum through the introduction of the Latin small letter sharp s (eszett, ß). "By providing the option to include special characters of the German alphabet in domain names, we emphasize the importance of .de as a country code Top Level Domain," explains DENIC's CEO, Sabine Dolderer. "That we rank first among all the ccTLDs worldwide today is above all the credit or our members, the Internet service providers. It is them who are in direct contact with the final clients, and who offer the excellent service which is the basis for our good reputation."

Background information

About DENIC eG

As the central registry, DENIC administers the now more than 14 million domains under the Top Level Domain .de and thus provides a crucial resource for users of the Internet. It sees its role as that of a competent, impartial provider of services for all domain holders and Internet users. With more than 120 employees, DENIC creates the foundation through its work for German Internet pages and e-mail addresses to be accessible throughout the world. The about 270 members of the Cooperative are IT or telecommunications businesses based in Germany and elsewhere. Working in cooperation with them and other partners, DENIC is committed to guarantee the secure operation of the Internet and its further worldwide development as a not-for-profit organization.

For further information please contact:

Public Relations
Fon: +49 69 27235-274
E-Mail: mailto:presse@denic.de