Domain name registrations hit all-time high

More than 4.7 million new domain names were registered in Q1

By Linda Rosencrance

June 8, 2004 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - More than 4.7 million new domain names were registered during the first quarter of 2004 -- the most ever recorded in a three-month period, according to a report released by Mountain View, Calif.-based VeriSign Inc., which operates the global registry for Web addresses ending in .com and .net.
That brings the total number of registered Web addresses to 63 million, approximately one for every 100 people living in the world, VeriSign said in a statement.
In addition, VeriSign said renewal rates, look-up rates and the percentage of domain names tied to live sites indicate that the current base of domain names is being used more actively than ever.
According to VeriSign, new records were set in the first quarter of 2004 in the areas of new registrations, renewal rates and the overall number of domain names under registration, up 21% from the same period in 2003. More than 72% of today's domain names now link to a live Web site, up from 55% in December 2002.
In addition, country code top-level domains account for a growing portion of overall domain names and currently represent 40% of all domain names registered in the world, according to the report.
"Though North America has the highest number of Internet users as a percentage of its population -- some 55% -- increasing Internet traffic is a reflection of a fast growing group of Internet users around the world," said Rusty Lewis, executive vice president of VeriSign's Naming and Directory Services, in the statement.
"For instance, 223 million people in Asia and 173 million people in Europe currently use the Internet on a regular basis, compared with around 175 million in North America. But, those Internet users represent only 6% and 22%, respectively, of the total populations of Asia and Europe."

Recommend Digg Twitter ShareThis

Email Print Send Feedback Reprints

Additional Resources

POLL RESULTS

Leading IT Pros Weigh In on Top IT Issues

Accelerate your knowledge of the IT world you inhabit by viewing the results of a series of polls taken by your IT peers. These polls of 100+ IT professionals each are available for full viewing. They cover key topics such as virtualization, processor performance, green IT, cloud computing and many others. Be a part of the buzz.

WHITE PAPER

For Best Results, Think Beyond the Box

Technology is complex. Keeping it running productively shouldn't be. To that end, you want to minimize the number of solutions needed in-house to simplify operations, maintenance, and support. Kodak offers a best-practices model. One company provides support for both scanner and software, for fast problem resolution without vendor finger-pointing. Download now!

WHITE PAPER

Accelerating the Path to Demand Intelligence with a Demand Signal Repository

Utilizing demand intelligence improves the precision of pricing, product assortments, channel/store placement, and promotion, which are all essential for sustainable revenue management performance. Learn more, download this free whitepaper today.

White Papers & Webcasts

Accelerate SSL Encrypted Applications
The amount of SSL traffic is growing in the enterprise. Because it is encrypted, it cannot be properly controlled and accelerated. Blue Coat...

Usability Is Everything
Learn what sets Workday's HR and Payroll solutions apart from the competition....

ESG Lab Field Audit
Many companies have successfully implemented Riverbed WAN optimization solutions within their Cisco networks. This ESG Lab Field Audit document explores the success that...

The Value of Real SaaS at Workday
Cost savings, speed to value, and innovation brought to the enterprise by Workday's software-as-a-service solutions for HR and Payroll....

Shape Your Apps Strategy to Reflect New SaaS Licensing and Pricing Trends
Why are smart companies choosing software-as-a-service? Find out in the complimentary Forrester Research report...

SaaS at Flextronics, Inc.
Dave Smoley, CIO of Flextronics, discusses the real value of software-as-a-service and why he chose Workday for his HR solution....

Natural User Interface for Enterprise Applications
Learn how a revolutionary user interface can make a complex enterprise application so intuitive even casual users can jump right in....

Why Compliance Pays
This OnDemand webcast explores the relationship that firms with best compliance records have higher revenue, greater customer retention, lower financial losses from data...

A Truly Global HCM System
Learn about a system built with advanced object-oriented technology that support multi-national requirements and costs less to implement, maintain and upgrade....

Agile Enterprise Content Management (ECM) for Rapid ROI
Find out how combining ECM and BPM will help adress issues about content rich business processes....

All White Papers | All Webcasts