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When you think of the Internet, you probably think of ".com." Just what do those three letters at the end of a World Wide Web address mean?
Every computer that hosts data on the Internet has a unique numerical address. For example, the numerical address for the White House is 198.137.240.100. But since few people want to remember long strings of numbers, the Domain Name System (DNS) was invented. DNS, a critical part of the Internet's technical infrastructure, correlates a numerical address to a word. To access the White House website, you could type its number into the address box of your web browser. But most people prefer to use "www.whitehouse.gov." In this case, the domain name is whitehouse.gov.
The domain name suffix is known as a generic top-level domain and it describes the type of organization. In the last few years, the lines have somewhat blurred between these categories.
.aero--For the air-transport industry
.biz--Reserved for businesses
.com--For businesses, commercial enterprises, or online services. Most businesses use this extension.
.coop--Reserved for cooperatives
.edu--For educational institutions and universities
.gov--Reserved for United States government agencies
.info--For all uses
.int--For organizations established by international treaties
.mil--For the United States military
.museum--For use by museums
.name--For use by individuals
.net--For networks; usually reserved for organizations such as Internet service providers
.org--For non-commercial organizations
.pro--For use by professionals, such as attorneys and physicians
ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, manages the Domain Name System.
 ICANN Home
| Rank |
Country |
Domains |
| 1 |
United States |
30,241,720 |
| 2 |
Germany |
2,907,475 |
| 3 |
United Kingdom |
2,241,333 |
| 4 |
Canada |
1,756,969 |
| 5 |
France |
1,171,337 |
| 6 |
China |
1,073,388 |
| 7 |
Australia |
880,297 |
| 8 |
Korea |
794,192 |
| 9 |
Spain |
652,449 |
| 10 |
Japan |
635,073 |
| 11 |
Italy |
564,168 |
| 12 |
HongKong S.A.R. |
446,368 |
| 13 |
Netherlands,The |
427,622 |
| 14 |
India |
300,073 |
| 15 |
Turkey |
240,835 |
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