History and Structure

The name of every organisation or individual connected to the Internet has to be uniquely defined so that others wishing to make contact can do so witht the risk of their communications being misdirected. Most Internet use was originally confined to academic and defence institutions, particularly in the United States, but as the Internet developed internationally in the 1980s, it was decided that each country should have its own two character reference for Internet names. This is known as a country-code Top Level Domain, and in the case of the United Kingdom is .uk.

Until comparatively recently, the Internet evolved in an unstructured and informal way. Few formal controls existed and regulation was largely undertaken on a voluntary basis. However, the development of the World Wide Web and growth in the use of personal computers led to an explosion of interest in the Internet - and of demand for Domain Names. This growth in demand put intolerable strain on the voluntary registration arrangements operated in the UK and by the end of 1995, with new registrations running at 200 per week, it was clear that a new, more formal structure was required.

During early 1996 several meetings were attended by many representatives of the Internet industry, and a plan was developed to bring order to the situation. Nominet UK was formed to take over registrations from 1 August that year.

Nominet UK derives its authority from the Internet industry in the UK and is recognized as the UK registry by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) in the USA.

The membership of Nominet UK also constitutes what is known as the Steering Committee. This in turn elects non-executive directors to the Council of Management, which is the legal equivalent of a board of directors in a shareholding company. Day-to-day technical, administrative and support operations are managed by a small executive staff.

Nominet UK Ltd

Nominet UK is the national registry for all Internet Domain Names ending uk. Each country needs a central registry to store the unique names used on the Internet and their associated numeric addresses. Nominet is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee. Thus it has no shareholders, pays no dividends and its charges only cover its running costs. Its authority derives from the Internet industry in the UK and the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).

Inter NIC

InterNIC is the international registry for all top level Internet Domain Names ending in .com, .net, .org, .gov and .edu

In January of 1993 the InterNIC was established as a collaborative project between AT&T, General Atomics and Network Solutions, Inc. and supported by three five-year cooperative agreements with the National Science Foundation. AT&T was to manage the InterNIC Directory and Database Services project; NSI was to manage the registration Services Project, and General Atomics was to manage the Information Services project.

InterNIC Registration Services is located at Network Solutions, Inc., Herndon, VA, USA and is funded by a cooperative agreement from the National Science Foundation to provide registration services for the Internet community via telephone, electronic mail, and U.S. postal mail. Registration Services works closely with domain administrators, network coordinators, Internet service providers, and other various users in its registration activities. Since 1993, they have served as the global registrar for .com, .net, .org, .gov and .edu top-level domains. Under their guidance, Internet domain name registrations have grown exponentially.