ICANN

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
AbbreviationICANN
FoundedSeptember 30, 1998 (1998-09-30)
Type501(c)3 organization
Tax ID no.
95-4712218
FocusManage Internet Protocol numbers and Domain Name System root
HeadquartersLos Angeles, California, United States
Key people
  • Kurt Erik Lindqvist (CEO and president)
  • Tripti Sinha (Chair of the Board)
  • Jon Postel (founder)
Employees428
Websiteicann.org
[1]
Internet history timeline

Early research and development:

  • 1960–1962: J. C. R. Licklider networking ideas
  • 1960–1964: RAND networking concepts developed
  • 1962–1964: ARPA networking ideas
  • 1965 (1965): NPL network concepts conceived
  • 1966 (1966): Merit Network founded
  • 1967 (1967): ARPANET planning begins
  • 1967 (1967): Symposium on Operating Systems Principles
  • 1969 (1969): NPL followed by the ARPANET carry their first packets
  • 1970 (1970): Network Information Center (NIC)
  • 1971 (1971): Tymnet switched-circuit network
  • 1972 (1972): Merit Network's packet-switched network operational
  • 1972 (1972): Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) established
  • 1973 (1973): CYCLADES network demonstrated
  • 1973 (1973): PARC Universal Packet development begins
  • 1974 (1974): Transmission Control Program specification published
  • 1975 (1975): Telenet commercial packet-switched network
  • 1976 (1976): X.25 protocol approved and deployed on public data networks
  • 1978 (1978): Minitel introduced
  • 1979 (1979): Internet Activities Board (IAB)
  • 1980 (1980): USENET news using UUCP
  • 1980 (1980): Ethernet standard introduced
  • 1981 (1981): BITNET established

Merging the networks and creating the Internet:

  • 1981 (1981): Computer Science Network (CSNET)
  • 1982 (1982): TCP/IP protocol suite formalized
  • 1982 (1982): Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
  • 1983 (1983): Domain Name System (DNS)
  • 1983 (1983): MILNET split off from ARPANET
  • 1984 (1984): OSI Reference Model released
  • 1985 (1985): First .COM domain name registered
  • 1986 (1986): NSFNET with 56 kbit/s links
  • 1986 (1986): Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
  • 1987 (1987): UUNET founded
  • 1988 (1988): NSFNET upgraded to 1.5 Mbit/s (T1)
  • 1988 (1988): Morris worm
  • 1988 (1988): Complete Internet protocol suite
  • 1989 (1989): Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)
  • 1989 (1989): PSINet founded, allows commercial traffic
  • 1989 (1989): Federal Internet Exchanges (FIX East|FIXes)
  • 1990 (1990): GOSIP (without TCP/IP)
  • 1990 (1990): ARPANET decommissioned
  • 1990 (1990): Advanced Network and Services (ANS)
  • 1990 (1990): UUNET/Alternet allows commercial traffic
  • 1990 (1990): Archie search engine
  • 1991 (1991): Wide area information server (WAIS)
  • 1991 (1991): Gopher
  • 1991 (1991): Commercial Internet eXchange (CIX)
  • 1991 (1991): ANS CO+RE allows commercial traffic
  • 1991 (1991): World Wide Web (WWW)
  • 1992 (1992): NSFNET upgraded to 45 Mbit/s (T3)
  • 1992 (1992): Internet Society (ISOC) established
  • 1993 (1993): Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR)
  • 1993 (1993): InterNIC established
  • 1993 (1993): AOL added USENET access
  • 1993 (1993): Mosaic web browser released
  • 1994 (1994): Full text web search engines
  • 1994 (1994): North American Network Operators' Group (NANOG) established

Commercialization, privatization, broader access leads to the modern Internet:

  • 1995 (1995): New Internet architecture with commercial ISPs connected at NAPs
  • 1995 (1995): NSFNET decommissioned
  • 1995 (1995): GOSIP updated to allow TCP/IP
  • 1995 (1995): very high-speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS)
  • 1995 (1995): IPv6 proposed
  • 1996 (1996): AOL changes pricing model from hourly to monthly
  • 1998 (1998):
  • 1999 (1999): IEEE 802.11b wireless networking
  • 1999 (1999): Internet2/Abilene Network
  • 1999 (1999): vBNS+ allows broader access
  • 2000 (2000): Dot-com bubble bursts
  • 2001 (2001): New top-level domain names activated
  • 2001 (2001): Code Red I, Code Red II, and Nimda worms
  • 2003 (2003): UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) phase I

Examples of Internet services:

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN /ˈkæn/ EYE-kan) is a global multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization headquartered in the United States. Responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces and numerical spaces of the Internet while also ensuring the Internet's (smoothly) securely stable operation,[2] ICANN performs the actual technical maintenance (work) of the Central Internet Address pools and DNS root zone registries pursuant to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) function contract. The contract regarding the IANA stewardship functions between ICANN and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the United States Department of Commerce ended on October 1, 2016, formally transitioning the functions to the global multistakeholder community.[3][4][5][6]

Much of its work has concerned the Internet's global Domain Name System (DNS),[7] including policy development for internationalization of the DNS, introduction of new generic top-level domains (TLDs), and the operation of root name servers; the numbering facilities ICANN manages include the Internet Protocol (IP) address spaces for IPv4 and v6 in addition to the assignment of address blocks to regional Internet registries (RIRs).

ICANN's primary principles of operation have been described as helping preserve the operational stability of the Internet; promoting competition; achieving broad representation of the global Internet community, and developing policies appropriate to its mission through bottom-up, consensus-based processes.[8] The organization has often included a motto of "One World. One Internet." on annual reports beginning in 2010, on less formal publications, as well as their official website.[9]

ICANN was officially incorporated in the state of California on September 30, 1998, with entrepreneur and philanthropist Esther Dyson as founding chairwoman.[10][11] Originally headquartered in Marina del Rey in the same building as the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute (ISI), its offices are now in the Playa Vista neighbourhood of Los Angeles.

  1. ^ "2024 Complete Report" (PDF). ICANN. Retrieved October 28, 2024.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference ICANN Bylaws was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Cheers to the Multistakeholder Community". ICANN.
  4. ^ "Final Implementation Update". ICANN.
  5. ^ "Stewardship of IANA Functions Transitions to Global Internet Community as Contract with U.S. Government Ends". ICANN.
  6. ^ "Statement of Assistant Secretary Strickling on IANA Functions Contract". National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
  7. ^ Koppell, Jonathan GS (January 17, 2005). "Pathologies of Accountability: ICANN and the Challenge of "Multiple Accountabilities Disorder"". Public Administration Review. 65 (1): 94–108. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6210.2005.00434.x.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Memorandum of understanding between the U.S. Department of Commerce and Internet Corporation for assigned names and numbers was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "ICANN Annual Report 2010" (PDF). ICANN. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  10. ^ Duran, Clint. "ICANN - Articles of Incorporation" (PDF). ICANN. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 5, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference kepler.ss.ca.gov was invoked but never defined (see the help page).