Webnames.ca StaffMonday May 14th marks the 25th anniversary of the dot-CA domain name for Canada. On this date twenty five years ago the management of the dot-CA country code domain name was officially delegated by Jon Postel, operator of Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), to Canadian Internet pioneer and Webnames.ca co-founder John Demco.
The most recognizable symbol of Canadian identity on the Internet, dot-CA was conceived in 1987 and for 13 years, John Demco, with the assistance of a group of dedicated volunteers, managed the dot-CA domain space out of his University of British Columbia office on behalf of all Canadians, allocating and administering dot-CA domain names at no charge to users on a voluntary basis. By 2000 an amazing 100,000 dot-CA domain names had been registered under John’s care, exceeding the capacity of a volunteer undertaking. “In the very early days of .CA, it wasn’t apparent that the registry would grow so quickly,” said John Demco, “However, by the late 1980’s the academic and research networks had begun to grow rapidly, even though the absolute numbers weren’t yet large. With the introduction of the web and commercialization, things really took off.”
In December 2000, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), a not-for-profit corporation took over operation of dot-CA. Since that time CIRA has accredited more than 90 registrars (including Webnames.ca) to act as retailers of dot-CA domains to the Canadian public.
The dot-CA domain name has become an important symbol of Canadian identity and presence. “Canadians prefer to do business with fellow Canadians and support the local economy,” says Webnames.ca President and Co-Founder, Cybele Negris. “Dot-CA shows website visitors that they are shopping locally, will pay in Canadian funds and receive product shipped from within the country. May 14th is a special day and we should all celebrate the success of the Canadian Internet. I’m proud to have been involved with John and the transition of dot-CA to CIRA back in 1999/2000 and I look forward to see what the next 25 years will bring.”
The dot-CA domain name has celebrated many milestones over the past 25 years including the celebration of one million dot-CA domains registered in 2008. We are anticipating the two million dot-CA registration some time in 2012. “One never knows what might happen, especially in an environment as dynamic as the Internet. However, dot-CA has been performing well since its inception, and particularly well during the past few years, and we can look forward to continued strong growth” anticipates John Demco. “There is also ample room to grow. The dot-CA domain will soon surpass 2 million registrations, but it should be kept in mind that the dot-COM domain has approximately 100 million. Thus although dot-CA has grown rapidly there are many, many excellent names available.”
Webnames.ca will be celebrating the 25th Anniversary of dot-CA with a week long $9.00 dot-CA domain promotion for new dot-CA registrations. The promotion will run from Monday, May 14th at 12:00am PT until Friday May 18th at 11:59pm PT. To take advantage of this promotion and to learn more about web hosting, web design and other Webnames.ca services, visit http://www.webnames.ca, search for your domain name and enter code 25YEARCA during checkout.