Generic top-level domainsDNSSEC
Overview
- .cern is a brand generic top-level domain (gTLD) applied for and delegated under ICANN's New gTLD Program.
- It represents the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), intended to identify CERN-related Internet resources and services.
History
- Application and reveal: .cern was applied for as part of the New gTLD Program (reveal day referenced 13 June 2012).
- Contract: A Registry Agreement with ICANN was signed on 5 June 2014 after passing Initial Evaluation.
- Delegation: The .cern string was delegated to the DNS Root Zone on 16 August 2014 (implementation date recorded as 16 August 2014).
- Registry details: ICANNWiki lists Afilias as the registry operator; the application materials and summary describe CERN as managing the TLD and acting as the registry/sponsoring organization.
Usage and Audience
- Primary holder: Initially configured as a single-registrant TLD — only CERN itself is eligible to register domain names under .cern.
- Community: Intended to serve CERN and its associated community, including the organization's members, researchers and institutional services.
- Future scope: The applicant indicated the possibility of opening registrations to selected third parties in the future, if CERN decides to do so.
Registration Rules
- Single-registrant model: At launch, registrations are restricted to CERN as the sole registrant.
- Potential opening: The applicant stated that, should registrations be opened to third parties later, registry operations would be organized to avoid multiple applications for the same domain name.
SEO and Brand Impact
- Brand positioning: As a brand gTLD operated/managed by CERN, .cern is designed to reinforce CERN's institutional identity and trust associated with the organization.
- Intended signal: Use of .cern domains signals an official association with CERN and its activities, aligning web presence with the organization's brand and community.
Operator
European Organization for Nuclear Research ("CERN")
Whois
% IANA WHOIS server % for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org % This query returned 1 object domain: CERN organisation: European Organization for Nuclear Research ("CERN") address: Route de Meyrin address: Geneve CH-1211 address: Switzerland contact: administrative name: Andreas Wagner organisation: European Organization for Nuclear Research ("CERN") address: Route de Meyrin address: Meyrin Geneve CH-1211 address: Switzerland phone: +41 22 767 4888 e-mail: cern.gtld@cern.ch contact: technical name: Senior Director, DNS Infrastructure Group organisation: Afilias address: 300 Welsh Road address: Building 3, Suite 105 address: Horsham PA 19044 address: United States of America (the) phone: +1 215.706.5700 fax-no: +1 215.706.5701 e-mail: tld-tech-poc@afilias.info nserver: A0.NIC.CERN 2a01:8840:da:0:0:0:0:1 65.22.224.1 nserver: A2.NIC.CERN 2a01:8840:dd:0:0:0:0:1 65.22.227.1 nserver: B0.NIC.CERN 2a01:8840:db:0:0:0:0:1 65.22.225.1 nserver: C0.NIC.CERN 2a01:8840:dc:0:0:0:0:1 65.22.226.1 ds-rdata: 20371 8 2 5a48eab25c4cf4978949d677c182876c48a6c5b7e2282926a954e8e9c8bec393 whois: whois.nic.cern status: ACTIVE remarks: Registration information: http://www.cern.ch created: 2014-08-13 changed: 2023-08-22 source: IANA