Difference between revisions of "ICANN.org"

ICANN

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is an internationally organized non-profit corporation located in Marina Del Rey, CA.

They are dedicated to:

• Preserving the operational stability of the Internet
• Promoting competition
• Achieving broad representation of global Internet communities
• Developing policy appropriate to its mission through bottom-up, consensus-based processes.

While they offer a number of functions and services, most notably ICANN is responsible for managing the assignment of domain names and IP addresses, including generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) and country code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs).

TLDs

Top-Level Domains is essentially another name for the types of URLs that allow us to navigate the internet. The domain name system (DNS) is a way for users to get around the internet without having to use unique numeric identifiers (IP addresses) that are hard to remember. DNS strings are user generated text that represents these numbers. For example "www.icann.org" is a much easier to remember and type accurately than "192.0.34.163", although both represent the internet URL we'd call "icann.org".

TLDs -- Top-Level Domains are just the extension after the "dot" in a DNS URL. For example: .us, .com, .gov

ccTLDs -- are a subset of Top-Level Domains that are reserved for countries or a dependent territory. For example, .ca in Canada, .uk in the United Kingdom, .br in Brazil, etc. See the complete list of ccTLDs at Iana.org.

gTLDs -- Generic Top-Level Domains are everything else. These indicate the type of organization they are in use for, for example: ".museum" is in use for museums, ".gov" for governments and their agencies in the US; however others have more recently had their restrictions lifted, so that while generally ".org" was for organizations. See the complete list of gTLDs at Iana.org.

Other ICANN functions

ICANN does help with a number of other functions:

• The introduction of new generic top-level domains
• Internet Protocol (IP) address space allocation
• Protocol identifier assignment
• Root server system management functions.
• Defining policy as it pertains to other ICANN functions

Contact

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)

+1 310 823 9358, Fax: +1 310 823 8649

Address

4676 Admiralty Way # 330

Marina Del Rey, CA 92092

Languages

English

Related Domains

External Links

• Alexa: Icann.org
• ICANNWiki.org