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    • .im

    Country-code top-level domains

    Overview

    .im is the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to the Isle of Man. It is intended for entities connected with the Isle of Man but is also widely used for instant-messaging related sites, short personal domains and as domain-hacks.

    History

    • Introduced / implemented: 11 September 1996 (delegation recorded by IANA).
    • Registry / sponsor: The domain is administered by the Government of the Isle of Man and managed on a day-to-day basis by Domicilium (an Isle of Man ISP).
    • Key milestone: On 1 July 2006 .im registrations were opened to anyone worldwide, including availability of one-, two- and three-letter domains directly under .im.

    Usage and Audience

    • Typical users:
      • Organizations and individuals on the Isle of Man.
      • Instant-messaging software and services (many IM projects and companies have registered .im domains).
      • Personal users attracted by the availability of short names.
      • Real-estate related sites in German-, French- and Italian-speaking markets, where "IM" can evoke Immobilien / Immobilier / Immobiliare.
    • Common industries / communities:
      • Instant messaging and related software projects.
      • Personal branding and short-name domains.
      • Real estate websites in certain European language markets.

    Registration Rules

    • Eligibility:
      • Registrations are available to anyone worldwide.
    • Restrictions:
      • Some names are not permitted (for example, names that contain profanity or racist/offensive words).
      • Certain second-level names are reserved for specific uses (see list below).
    • Second-level and third-level structure (examples):
      • .ac.im — reserved for academic institutions
      • .co.im — commercial use; includes third-levels like .ltd.co.im and .plc.co.im
      • .com.im
      • .gov.im — reserved for the Government of the Isle of Man
      • .net.im — intended for network operators and related entities
      • .org.im — intended for nonprofit organisations
    • Allowed characters and length (registry rules):
      • Permitted characters: a–z (unaccented Roman letters), 0–9, and hyphens.
      • Hyphens may not be the first or last character of the domain label.
      • Internationalized domain names (IDNs) are not currently offered; labels beginning with "xn--" may not be registered.
      • The registry states the complete domain name may be from 3 to 64 characters in total (inclusive of ".im").
    • Pricing (as published by the registry):
      • Standard: £40.00 per year for domains of three letters or more (registrars/resellers may offer different prices).
      • Premium two-character domains: £495.00
      • Premium one-character domains: £995.00
    • Policy notes:
      • The registry publishes an IM Dispute Resolution Procedure (IM DRP) for domain disputes.
      • DNSSEC: the registry has indicated DNSSEC is not enabled.

    SEO and Brand Impact

    • Brand positioning:
      • .im has been adopted by instant-messaging products and services to reinforce the "IM" branding.
      • Its availability of short names and potential for domain-hacks makes it attractive for personal branding and memorable URLs.
    • Search/Trust considerations:
      • The sources note popularity among specific software projects and personal users; no explicit claims about search-engine treatment or ranking signals are provided by the registry sources.

    Notable Cases or Examples

    • Several instant-messaging projects and services have registered .im domains, including Adium, ejabberd, Coccinella, Gitter, Meebo, Pandion, Pidgin, Prosody, Trillian and Yahoo!.
    • The site elgooG (elgoog.im) is an example of a notable use of .im for a project outside Isle of Man–specific contexts.

    Operator

    Isle of Man Government

    Whois

    % IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       IM

organisation: Isle of Man Government
address:      Bucks Road
address:      Douglas Isle of Man IM1
address:      United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the)

contact:      administrative
name:         Brian Osborn
organisation: Information Systems Division,
organisation: Isle of Man Government
address:      St Andrew's House
address:      Finch Road
address:      Douglas IM1 3PX
address:      United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the)
phone:        +44 1624 685685
e-mail:       imdomainadmin@nic.im

contact:      technical
name:         Phil Adcock
organisation: Domicilium (IoM) Ltd
address:      Isle of Man Datacentre
address:      Ronaldsway IM9 2RS
address:      United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the)
phone:        +44 1624 825278
fax-no:       +44 1624 829525
e-mail:       padcock@domicilium.com

nserver:      BARNEY.ADVSYS.CO.UK 217.23.160.50
nserver:      HOPPY.IOM.COM 217.23.163.140
nserver:      NS4.JA.NET 193.62.157.66 2001:630:0:47:0:0:0:42
nserver:      PEBBLES.IOM.COM 83.218.14.53

whois:        whois.nic.im

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: http://www.nic.im

created:      1996-09-11
changed:      2018-11-24
source:       IANA

    Registrars