400 000 Norwegian domain names

(Trondheim, 24 September 2008): Yesterday the counter at Norid rounded 400 000 domain names for the first time. The number has increased tenfold in ten years, and the growth is still strong. A domain name within .no is an obvious first choice among Norwegian companies.

In addition to their .no domain name, many Norwegian companies have registered within other top level domains as well, such as .com and .net. Among those who have registered a domain name, more than nine out of ten consider the .no address the most important for marketing purposes.

Strong growth

Internet is more and more important for all parts of society, which is reflected by the growth of domain names. From a modest start in the early 80s, 1000 Norwegian domain names were passed in 1995, and a quarter of a million ten years later. Now we have passed 400 000. With the growth rate of today it will take between three and four years to double the number of new registrations.

Even though Norway is one of the countries in the world where Internet is most accessible, many companies still do not have their own domain name. - Based on today's premises we expect the growth to continue at the same rate, says Hilde Thunem, Department Manager at Norid.

Natural first choice

- Norwegian companies with domain names within several top level domains, tend to prefer their .no address, says Hilde Thunem. - The .no address signals a belonging to Norway. They also know that .no is a high quality top level domain, and that the address can be expected to lead to the website they are searching for, she adds.

As much as 95 per cent of the Norwegian domain names are renewed each year, which means that very few domains are deleted. .no has one of the highest renewal rates in the world, which shows that .no domains are registered for long term use.

Among the safest in the world

Norwegian websites were for the second time ranked among the very safest among all top level domains around the world. Norway gets good rating for virus as well as other threats. There are also less spam and pop-ups on .no sites than on sites within most other top-level domains in the world.

The test, which has been carried out by the American agency McAfee SiteAdvisor, demonstrates huge geographical differences regarding safety for use of websites within different top level domains. The analysis points out the domain name policy for the top level domain and proper management as major reasons for the differences.

More information:
http://www.norid.no/statistikk/index.en.phps
http://www.siteadvisor.com/

Contact persons:

Hilde M. Thunem, Department Manager, hilde.thunem@uninett.no,phone +47 414 49 885
Elisabeth Farstad, Senior Adviser, elisabeth.farstad@uninett.no, phone +47 971 29 423

About Norid:

Norid is the .no registry, which means that all domains directly within .no must be registered with Norid. In addition to processing applications and developing the domain name policy, Norid is responsible for the technical operation of the name service, allowing the Norwegian Internet to be globally accessible at all times. According to its role as a neutral actor, Norid also handles other national tasks which have a natural relation to the core activities.

The registry follows a principle of only handling essential core tasks inhouse, while other tasks are outsourced to companies who offer registrar services in agreement with Norid. The activites are strongly internationally orientated with a wide range of contacts in technical as well as domain administrative environments in other countries.

Norid is also responsible for the top level domains .bv (Bouvet Island) and .sj (Svalbard and Jan Mayen). The current domain name policy do not, however, allow registration within these domains.

The service is regulated by the Domain Name Regulations and is supervised by the Norwegian Post and Telecommunications Authority. Norid is not a public administrative agency, and the allocation of domain names is based on private law rules. The company is run non-profit. Norid is part of UNINETT and is located in Trondheim with the rest of the Group.