November 6, 2011
The .net domain name extension has been with us pretty much forever - well, in terms of the World Wide Web's existence anyway.
Actually, .net precedes the World Wide Web. The extension was established in 1985 and it wasn't until 1991 when Tim Berners-Lee announced the debut of the Web as a publicly accessible service on the Internet.
Net is one of the original top level domains; along with com, edu, gov, mil, and org.
While the first domain name to be registered was a .com, the first to be created was a .net name in January 1985 - Nordu.net; which was used to be the identifier of the first root server, nic.nordu.net. Nordu.net is a data communications network interconnecting the national research and education networks of the five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden; and is still in operation today.
The original intention for .net was use by network providers only, but nowadays registration of a .net domain name has no restrictions - anyone anywhere in the world can register a .net name.
According to the registry operator, Verisign, .net is often used in backbone operations of the Internet and is directly or indirectly involved with at least 30 percent of all Internet activity.
After .com and .de (the country code Top Level Domain for Germany), .net is the most popular TLD in the world.
These days, a .net name is popular with technology companies, or as an alternative to .com if that is already taken. However, registering a .net in those circumstances can sometimes be counterproductive. With .com having such high levels of awareness, type-in traffic can be lost to the .com domain.
Australia has its own .net equivalent; .net.au. While .net registration is unrestricted, to register a .net.au domain name, parties must satisfy the same criteria as for .com.au registrations; such as being an Australian registered company, partnership or sole trader.
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How to register a name: Enter your choice in the search tool and click 'GO'. If after the check the domain names search results show your choice is available, you will then have the option to proceed to purchase registration; which is a very quick and easy process - start a search and find your ideal website address now.
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