.com
Encyclopedia
The domain name com is a generic top-level domain
(gTLD) in the Domain Name System
of the Internet
. Its name is derived from commercial, indicating its original intended purpose for domains registered by commercial organizations. However eventually the distinction was lost when .com, .org and .net were opened for unrestricted registration.
The gTLD com was originally administered by the United States Department of Defense
, but is today operated by Verisign
. Registrations in com are processed via registrars
accredited by ICANN
. The registry accepts internationalized domain name
s.
The domain was one of the original top-level domain
s (TLDs) in the Internet when the Domain Name System was implemented in January 1985, the others being edu
, gov
, mil
, net
, org
, and arpa
. It has grown into the largest top-level domain.
code) was introduced by Verisign to reduce the incidence of domain hijacking
Generic top-level domain
A generic top-level domain is one of the categories of top-level domains maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority for use in the Domain Name System of the Internet....
(gTLD) in the Domain Name System
Domain name system
The Domain Name System is a hierarchical distributed naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participating entities...
of the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. Its name is derived from commercial, indicating its original intended purpose for domains registered by commercial organizations. However eventually the distinction was lost when .com, .org and .net were opened for unrestricted registration.
The gTLD com was originally administered by the United States Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
, but is today operated by Verisign
VeriSign
Verisign, Inc. is an American company based in Dulles, Virginia that operates a diverse array of network infrastructure, including two of the Internet's thirteen root nameservers, the authoritative registry for the .com, .net, and .name generic top-level domains and the .cc and .tv country-code...
. Registrations in com are processed via registrars
Domain name registrar
A domain name registrar is an organization or commercial entity, accredited by both ICANN and generic top-level domain registry to sell gTLDs and/or by a country code top-level domain registry to sell ccTLDs; to manage the reservation of Internet domain names in accordance with the guidelines of...
accredited by ICANN
ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...
. The registry accepts internationalized domain name
Internationalized domain name
An internationalized domain name is an Internet domain name that contains at least one label that is displayed in software applications, in whole or in part, in a language-specific script or alphabet, such as Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Hindi or the Latin alphabet-based characters with diacritics,...
s.
The domain was one of the original top-level domain
Top-level domain
A top-level domain is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. For all domains in lower levels, it is the last part of the domain name, that is, the last label of a...
s (TLDs) in the Internet when the Domain Name System was implemented in January 1985, the others being edu
.edu
The domain name edu is a sponsored top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The "domain is intended for accredited post-secondary educational U.S. institutions" and this intention is strictly enforced....
, gov
.gov
The domain name gov is a sponsored top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The name is derived from government, indicating its restricted use by government entities in the United States. The gov domain is administered by the General Services Administration , an independent...
, mil
.mil
The domain name mil is the sponsored top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet for the United States Department of Defense and its subsidiary or affiliated organizations. The name is derived from military. It was one of the first top-level domains, created in January 1985.The...
, net
.net
The domain name net is a generic top-level domain used in the Domain Name System of the Internet. The name is derived from network, indicating its originally intended purpose for organizations involved in networking technologies, such as Internet service providers and other infrastructure companies...
, org
.org
The domain name org is a generic top-level domain of the Domain Name System used in the Internet. The name is derived from organization....
, and arpa
.arpa
The domain name arpa is a top-level domain in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It is used exclusively for technical infrastructure purposes...
. It has grown into the largest top-level domain.
Transfer procedures
Domains can be transferred between registrars. Prior to October 2006, the procedure used by Verisign was complex and unreliable to verify the identity of the registrant requesting a domain transfer. In October 2006, a new procedure, requiring the losing registrar to provide an authorization code on instruction from the registrant (also known as EPPExtensible Provisioning Protocol
The Extensible Provisioning Protocol is a flexible protocol designed for allocating objects within registries over the Internet.The motivation for the creation of EPP was to create a robust and flexible protocol that could provide communication between domain name registries and domain name...
code) was introduced by Verisign to reduce the incidence of domain hijacking
Domain hijacking
Domain hijacking or domain theft is the act of changing the registration of a domain name without the permission of its original registrant....
List of oldest com domains
The following are the 100 oldest still-existing registered com domains :| Rank | Create date | Domain name |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | March 15, 1985 | symbolics.com Symbolics Symbolics refers to two companies: now-defunct computer manufacturer Symbolics, Inc., and a privately held company that acquired the assets of the former company and continues to sell and maintain the Open Genera Lisp system and the Macsyma computer algebra system.The symbolics.com domain was... |
| 2 | April 24, 1985 | BBN.com BBN Technologies BBN Technologies is a high-technology company which provides research and development services. BBN is based next to Fresh Pond in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA... |
| 3 | May 24, 1985 | think.com |
| 4 | July 11, 1985 | MCC.com Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation was the first, and - at one time - one of the largest, computer industry research and development consortia in the United States.... |
| 5 | September 30, 1985 | DEC.com Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s... |
| 6 | November 7, 1985 | northrop.com Northrop Corporation Northrop Corporation was a leading United States aircraft manufacturer from its formation in 1939 until its merger with Grumman to form Northrop Grumman in 1994. The company is known for its development of the flying wing design, although only a few of these have entered service.-History:Jack... |
| 7 | January 9, 1986 | xerox.com Xerox Xerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies... |
| 8 | January 17, 1986 | SRI.com SRI International SRI International , founded as Stanford Research Institute, is one of the world's largest contract research institutes. Based in Menlo Park, California, the trustees of Stanford University established it in 1946 as a center of innovation to support economic development in the region. It was later... |
| 9 | March 3, 1986 | HP.com Hewlett-Packard Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including... |
| 10 | March 5, 1986 | bellcore.com |
| 11 | March 19, 1986 | IBM.com |
| 11 | March 19, 1986 | sun.com Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982... |
| 13 | March 25, 1986 | intel.com |
| 13 | March 25, 1986 | TI.com Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology... |
| 15 | April 25, 1986 | ATT.com AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services... |
| 16 | May 8, 1986 | GMR.com General Motors Research Laboratories General Motors Research Laboratories are the part of General Motors responsible for creation of the first known operating system in 1955 and contributed to the first mechanical heart, the Dodrill-GMR, successfully used while performing open heart surgery.-External links:* site. Domain is one of... |
| 16 | May 8, 1986 | tek.com Tektronix Tektronix, Inc. is an American company best known for its test and measurement equipment such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment. In November 2007, Tektronix became a subsidiary of Danaher Corporation.... |
| 18 | July 10, 1986 | FMC.com |
| 18 | July 10, 1986 | UB.com Ungermann-Bass Ungermann-Bass, also known as UB and UB Networks, was a computer networking company in the 1980s to 1990s. Located in Santa Clara, California, in Silicon Valley, UB was the first large networking company independent of any computer manufacturer. UB was founded by Ralph Ungermann and Charlie Bass... |
| 20 | August 5, 1986 | bell-atl.com |
| 20 | August 5, 1986 | GE.com General Electric General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States... |
| 20 | August 5, 1986 | grebyn.com |
| 20 | August 5, 1986 | ISC.com INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation was a US-based software company and the first vendor of the Unix operating system outside AT&T, operating from Santa Monica, CA.... |
| 20 | August 5, 1986 | NSC.com National Semiconductor National Semiconductor was an American semiconductor manufacturer, that specialized in analog devices and subsystems,formerly headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA. The products of National Semiconductor included power management circuits, display drivers, audio and operational amplifiers,... |
| 20 | August 5, 1986 | stargate.com |
| 26 | September 2, 1986 | boeing.com Boeing The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001... |
| 27 | September 18, 1986 | ITCorp.com |
| 28 | September 29, 1986 | siemens.com Siemens AG Siemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company.... |
| 29 | October 18, 1986 | pyramid.com Pyramid Technology Pyramid Technology Corporation was a computer company that produced a number of RISC-based minicomputers at the upper end of the performance range. They also became the second company to ship a multiprocessor Unix system , in 1985, which formed the basis of their product line into the early 1990s... |
| 30 | October 27, 1986 | alphaDC.com |
| 30 | October 27, 1986 | BDM.com |
| 30 | October 27, 1986 | fluke.com Fluke Corporation Fluke Corporation, a subsidiary of the Danaher Corporation, is a manufacturer of industrial testing equipment including electronic test equipment. It was started in 1948 by John Fluke, Sr., a friend and roommate of David Packard, future co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, when both were employed at... |
| 30 | October 27, 1986 | inmet.com Intermetrics Intermetrics, Inc. was a software company founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1969 by several veterans of M.I.T.'s Instrumentation Laboratory who had worked on the software for NASA's Apollo Program including the Apollo Guidance Computer.... |
| 30 | October 27, 1986 | kesmai.com Kesmai Kesmai was a pioneering game developer and online game publisher, founded in 1981 by Kelton Flinn and John Taylor. The company was best known for the combat flight sim Air Warrior on the GEnie online service, one of the first graphical MMOGs, launched in 1987... |
| 30 | October 27, 1986 | mentor.com Mentor Graphics Mentor Graphics, Inc is a US-based multinational corporation dealing in electronic design automation for electrical engineering and electronics, as of 2004, ranked third in the EDA industry it helped create... |
| 30 | October 27, 1986 | NEC.com |
| 30 | October 27, 1986 | ray.com Raytheon Raytheon Company is a major American defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007... |
| 30 | October 27, 1986 | rosemount.com Rosemount Inc. Rosemount Inc. is a subsidiary of Emerson Electric Company that manufactures and sells sensors that measure pressure, temperature, level, and flow. Its headquarters is located in Chanhassen, Minnesota. With over 1000 employees, it is the city's largest employer.- History :Rosemount Inc... |
| 30 | October 27, 1986 | vortex.com |
| 40 | November 5, 1986 | alcoa.com Alcoa Alcoa Inc. is the world's third largest producer of aluminum, behind Rio Tinto Alcan and Rusal. From its operational headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Alcoa conducts operations in 31 countries... |
| 40 | November 5, 1986 | GTE.com |
| 42 | November 17, 1986 | adobe.com Adobe Systems Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States... |
| 42 | November 17, 1986 | AMD.com |
| 42 | November 17, 1986 | DAS.com |
| 42 | November 17, 1986 | data-IO.com Data I/O Corporation Data I/O Corporation is a manufacturer of programming and automated device handling systems for programmable integrated circuits. The company is headquartered in Redmond, Washington with sales and engineering offices worldwide.- History :... |
| 42 | November 17, 1986 | octopus.com |
| 42 | November 17, 1986 | portal.com |
| 42 | November 17, 1986 | teltone.com |
| 49 | December 11, 1986 | 3Com.com |
| 49 | December 11, 1986 | amdahl.com Amdahl Corporation Amdahl Corporation is an information technology company which specializes in IBM mainframe-compatible computer products. Founded in 1970 by Dr. Gene Amdahl, a former IBM employee, it has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu since 1997... |
| Rank | Create date | Domain name |
|---|---|---|
| 49 | December 11, 1986 | CCUR.com Concurrent Computer Corporation Concurrent Computer Corporation is a developer and provider of Video on demand systems to Multiple Service Organizations. Concurrent's On-Demand technology is based on off-the-shelf hardware and customized open-source software including RedHawk Linux, a customized version of Red Hat Enterprise... |
| 49 | December 11, 1986 | CI.com |
| 49 | December 11, 1986 | convergent.com Convergent Technologies (Unisys) Convergent Technologies was an American computer company formed by a small group of people who left Intel Corporation and Xerox PARC in 1979.... |
| 49 | December 11, 1986 | DG.com Data General Data General was one of the first minicomputer firms from the late 1960s. Three of the four founders were former employees of Digital Equipment Corporation. Their first product, the Data General Nova, was a 16-bit minicomputer... |
| 49 | December 11, 1986 | peregrine.com Peregrine Systems Peregrine Systems, Inc., an enterprise software company, was founded in 1981 and sold enterprise asset management, change management, and ITIL-based IT service management software. Following an accounting scandal and bankruptcy in 2003, Peregrine was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in 2005... |
| 49 | December 11, 1986 | quad.com |
| 49 | December 11, 1986 | SQ.com |
| 49 | December 11, 1986 | tandy.com Tandy Corporation Tandy Corporation was a family-owned leather goods company based in Fort Worth, Texas. Tandy was founded in 1919 as a leather supply store, and acquired RadioShack in 1963. The Tandy name was dropped in May 2000, when RadioShack Corporation was made the official name.-History:Tandy began in 1919... |
| 49 | December 11, 1986 | TTI.com |
| 49 | December 11, 1986 | unisys.com Unisys Unisys Corporation , headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, United States, and incorporated in Delaware, is a long established business whose core products now involves computing and networking.-History:... |
| 61 | January 19, 1987 | CGI.com |
| 61 | January 19, 1987 | CTS.com |
| 61 | January 19, 1987 | SPDCC.com |
| 64 | February 19, 1987 | apple.com |
| 65 | March 4, 1987 | NMA.com |
| 65 | March 4, 1987 | prime.com Prime Computer Prime Computer, Inc. was a Natick, Massachusetts-based producer of minicomputers from 1972 until 1992. The alternative spellings "PR1ME" and "PR1ME Computer" were used as brand names or logos by the company.-Founders:... |
| 67 | April 4, 1987 | philips.com Philips Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company.... |
| 68 | April 23, 1987 | datacube.com Datacube Inc. Datacube Inc. was an image processing company that developed real-time hardware and software products for the industrial, medical, military and scientific markets.-Early history:... |
| 68 | April 23, 1987 | KAI.com |
| 68 | April 23, 1987 | TIC.com |
| 68 | April 23, 1987 | vine.com |
| 72 | April 30, 1987 | NCR.com NCR Corporation NCR Corporation is an American technology company specializing in kiosk products for the retail, financial, travel, healthcare, food service, entertainment, gaming and public sector industries. Its main products are self-service kiosks, point-of-sale terminals, automated teller machines, check... |
| 73 | May 14, 1987 | cisco.com Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$... |
| 73 | May 14, 1987 | RDL.com |
| 75 | May 20, 1987 | SLB.com |
| 76 | May 27, 1987 | parcplace.com |
| 76 | May 27, 1987 | UTC.com United Technologies Corporation United Technologies Corporation is an American multinational conglomerate headquartered in the United Technologies Building in Hartford, Connecticut... |
| 78 | June 26, 1987 | IDE.com |
| 79 | July 9, 1987 | TRW.com TRW TRW Inc. was an American corporation involved in a variety of businesses, mainly aerospace, automotive, and credit reporting. It was a pioneer in multiple fields including electronic components, integrated circuits, computers, software and systems engineering. TRW built many spacecraft,... |
| 80 | July 13, 1987 | unipress.com |
| 81 | July 27, 1987 | dupont.com DuPont E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009... |
| 81 | July 27, 1987 | lockheed.com Lockheed Corporation The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:... |
| 83 | July 28, 1987 | rosetta.com |
| 84 | August 18, 1987 | toad.com |
| 85 | August 31, 1987 | quick.com |
| 86 | September 3, 1987 | allied.com AlliedSignal AlliedSignal was an aerospace, automotive and engineering company that acquired and merged with Honeywell for $15 billion in 1999, after which the new group adopted the Honeywell name.AlliedSignal was created through a 1985 merger of Allied Corp... |
| 86 | September 3, 1987 | DSC.com |
| 86 | September 3, 1987 | SCO.com |
| 89 | September 22, 1987 | gene.com Genentech Genentech Inc., or Genetic Engineering Technology, Inc., is a biotechnology corporation, founded in 1976 by venture capitalist Robert A. Swanson and biochemist Dr. Herbert Boyer. Trailing the founding of Cetus by five years, it was an important step in the evolution of the biotechnology industry... |
| 89 | September 22, 1987 | KCCS.com |
| 89 | September 22, 1987 | spectra.com |
| 89 | September 22, 1987 | WLK.com |
| 93 | September 30, 1987 | mentat.com |
| 94 | October 14, 1987 | WYSE.com |
| 95 | November 2, 1987 | CFG.com |
| 96 | November 9, 1987 | marble.com |
| 97 | November 16, 1987 | cayman.com |
| 97 | November 16, 1987 | entity.com |
| 99 | November 24, 1987 | KSR.com Kendall Square Research Kendall Square Research was a supercomputer company headquartered originally in Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1986, near MIT. It was co-founded by Steven Frank and Henry Burkhardt III, who had previously helped found Data General and Encore Computer and was one of the original... |
| 100 | November 30, 1987 | NYNEXST.com |