Network Solutions
Inc. Tuesday said its domain registrations almost doubled in 1998,
coming in just under 2 million.
NSI registered 1,911,000 new domains. NSI registers domain names ending in
.com, .net, .org and .edu. The .com domain is the most popular, accounting
for 84 percent of cumulative total registrations.
The company reported that roughly 70 percent of new registrations in 1998
were for U.S. businesses and individuals, with the remaining 30 percent of
registrations going to international users, the same amount as the previous
year.
The top countries seeking new domains were: the U.S., Spain, Canada, Italy,
the U.K., the Netherlands, Germany, China, France, Japan, Sweden and
Australia.
In the U.S., California requested the most new domain
addresses, followed by Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Florida,
Washington, Texas, Ohio, New Jersey, Virginia, Illinois and Maryland.
“In 1998, dot com became a household name across the globe as more Internet
users came online to communicate and set up shop,” said Robert
Korzeniewski, Network Solutions’ chief financial officer and acting chief
operating
officer.
“Net new Internet registrations nearly doubled for the second consecutive
year and were up almost 300 percent from 1996 figures. Network Solutions
achieved this growth in part through strategic relationships with leading
Internet service providers. At the same time Network Solutions
introduced several complementary services including dot com mail,”
Korzeniewski said.
During recent months, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers ICANN comprised of Internet
professionals, has worked with the government to transfer the domain system
to the private sector, ending NSI’s exclusive contract to administer the
system.
In related news, Network Solutions Tuesday also announced it will invest $2
million in Critical
Path, Inc., an outsourced e-mail solutions provider. The investment
represents part of a $31 million equity funding Critical Path as it expands
internationally.