Canada Domain Registrar CIRA hits the 1 Million Mark
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) announced today that there are now over one million registered dot-ca (.ca) Internet domain names. DigitalHome.ca was the first domain to be registered back in 2001 and is now only “one in a million” domain.The dot-ca domain name was established in 1987 by a group of volunteers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and transferred to CIRA in 2000. In 1988 the first dot-ca domain name, upei.ca, was registered by the University of Prince Edward Island. Since then dot-ca domain name usage has grown at over 20% per year.
This growth is remarkable considering that dot-ca domains are reserved exclusively for Canadians. Dot-ca now ranks as the seventeenth largest Internet domain name registry when compared to generic domain names like dot-com and country specific domain names like dot-uk (United Kingdom).
“Dot-ca represents Canada on the Internet. A dot-ca domain name, website, or email address means you can be confident that you are dealing with a Canadian or Canadian business online,” says Byron Holland, President and CEO of CIRA.
In addition it also declared that Dot-ca now ranks as the seventeenth largest Internet domain name registry when compared to generic domain names like dot-com and country specific domain names like dot-uk. “The registration of over one million dot-ca domains is a testament to the great work being done by CIRA. On behalf of the entire ICANN community, congratulations,” said Dr. Paul Twomey, President and CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the global organization that governs Internet domain names.
Dot-ca domain names are now available through a network of over 140 Canadian domain name registrars in Canada.
Source: CIRA Press Announcement - April 15th, 2008