ISNIC moves

On 4th of March, ISNIC moves from Dunhagi 5 to Höfðatún 2, 105 Reykjavík. The office is closed, but you can use Svarbox and email to contact us.
None of ISNIC's services should be affected by the move.

How does the Internet work?

For those who are interested, this simple video on Youtube may help you understand how the Internet works, especially Internet Exchanges (IX) like the RIX which ISNIC operates.

Another video explains in simple terms how the Internet naming system (DNS) works.

ISNIC's services for the .IS domain are equivalent to the services explained for the .EU domain in the video.

2009 - A good year

The ISNIC Team is very proud and thankful for 2009. It has been the best in our 20 years. We simplified and reduced the registration fee, accepted payment in Euros, we did not increase the annual fee, and still maintained a good financial result for the company.

The .is domain holders are of course the primary reason for this success. On average they registered 19.4 domain each day, for a total of 7,084 new domains. This is the greatest increase in .is domains ever. The number of 'active' domains at the end of the year increased 25%.

We wish you a happy new year and our best wishes for 2010.

Season greetings

ISNIC will be closed over the christmas holidays, 23rd-25th december. We will also close on december 31st.
ISNIC opens on january 4th.
You can still complete your domain registrations and payments on-line. Please check for our Svarbox for on-line service or e-mail us at isnic@isnic.is

Merry christmas and a happy new year!

Good news for .IS domains

The total number of dot IS domains has now reached 27.000. New .IS-domain registrations have been very healthy lately and new registrations this September increased by 77% over September 2008, and October registrations increased 45% over the same month last year.

At the end of October 2009, the total number of .IS domains has increased by 34% last 12 moths, and by 68% over end of October 2007. The staff of ISNIC has done many important changes last three years to improve the service, which has now payed off.

The German ccTLD changes their registration requirements

The .DE domain has relaxed some of it's rules and now you can register 2 letter domains and similar domains as other rootdomains (like .com and .net), register geographic abbreviations of car license plates.
More information on DENIC

The number 42

The number 42 is a special number. During week 42 ISNIC received 42 domain registrations from individuals of 152 new domains in the 42. week of the year.

New registration increase by 55%

The .is-domain registrations during August increased by 55% from August 2008. 537 domains were registered, while 337 domains were registered August 2008. This is fantastic news. Inspite of an increase in cancellations the total number of .IS domains continues to increase. We expect that we will have 26000 domains by the end of August (need only 250 domains).
ISNIC has changed regulations and made registration as easy as normal on-line shopping and, last but not least, reduced the price by 36%. ISNIC accepts payments in Euros.

20 years of Internet in Iceland

July 21st 2009 marks the 20 year anniversary of the first IP communication in and out of Iceland. This day, in 1989 SURIS (an informal organization of networking people in Iceland -- later incorporated as ISNIC Internet á Íslandi hf.) established direct IP communication to NORDUnet POP in Lyngby south of Copenhagen.

This connection was implemeted as IP over X.25 over a satellite link. At the time there were no cables to Iceland and the only way to implement datacircuts was using the X.25 network offered by the goverment/incumbent phone companies running the show.

X.25 was/is notoriously ill suited to transport IP packets and the circut bandwith was only 300-1200 bits/sec. This connection did however benefit the already growing network in Iceland, adding interactive (telnet) and file transfer (FTP) possibilites to the already existing indirect Internet connections (email and Usenet).

This circut was used for just about one year, replaced by a 9600 bit/sec leased line to Stockholm and Internet development in Iceland started.

See also ISNIC - Internet á Íslandi hf. and NORDUnet history.

Web Forwarding

ISNIC newest service is Web Forwarding.
Once logged in, you can forward your .is-domain's web to an active website by clicking on ""Web Forwarding" on My Page.
If you insert the IP address of the webserver, you may need to configure it to display YOUR web, Host Header (IIS) OR Virtual Host (Apache) are terms you might need to discuss with your webmaster.
You can also insert a single mailserver name for an MX record (optional).

Bank holiday

Today, June 17th is the Icelandic National Day, or independence day.
ISNIC, and most Icelandic companies are therefore closed but we open again tomorrow.

Domain registrations are rising in spite of everything!

A new addition on our website is a domain counter which shows you how many registered .IS domains there are. It's located next to the flags on the top of the page. Today, 19/May/2009, we are close to breaking the 25.000 mark!

.IS now serviced by the Autonomica Anycast System

ISNIC has signed a contract for anycasti services for the .is ccTLD with Autonomica AB of Stockholm Sweden. Autonomica is the current operator of the I-root, and as such operates servers in 33 locations all over the world.

The IS has been served by the ISC SNS@ISC system for some time now and together these two systems mean that the response time for delegation record lookup for .IS domains will be much improved globally. ISNIC will also have better defenses against various types of resource depletion on the .is nameserver set.

See also RFC3258 - Distributing Authoritative Name Servers via Shared Unicast Addresses and RFC1546 - Host Anycasting Service

Summer is here!

Those who pay by credit card can register and pay for a .is domain here on the website 24/7. You just need to register as a contact from the menu on the left, and follow the instructions. The whole process takes about 10-15 minutes.

The ISNIC office is closed on Thursday 23rd April for "the first day of summer" which in Iceland is a public holiday. Thank you for the passing winter and have a happy summer!

The ISNIC staff

Easter holidays

ISNIC closes the offices during the easter vacation like so many Icelandic businesses.
Easter lasts from 9th April - 13th April.
We will be available again on tuesday, 14th April.
Domains can be registered at any time if you use a credit card.

Happy Easter!

The ISNIC staff.

RFC-1 40 year jubilee

Today is the 40th anniversary of the publication of RFC1 - Host Software by Steve Crocker. RFC stands for "Request for Comments" and it is the procedure by which nearly all internet protocols are documented to this day. RFC-1 describes NCP which was used from 1969 to 1982 when it was replaced by TCP (as described in RFC-793) still in use today.

For more information on the development of the "Internet", as we know it, try search for the following: ARPANET, USENET, BITNET and for closer view; EUnet and NORDUnet (e.g. history of Nordic networking. Search for CERN, Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Caillau for information on the later develeopments, for example the World Wide Web (www.).

ISNIC's role is the management of the Top Level Domain .IS in the DNS system. The DNS system as we know it today is based on RFC1033, published in November 1987.

Happy New Year!

We wish you all a happy new year!

ISNIC will open on January 5th but you can still get your domains with our on-line payment system!

The ISNIC Team

ISNIC cuts initial registration fee

The ISNIC domain tariff has now been changed, and the initial registration cost lowered as of December 1st 2008. Now only the first year fee needs to be prepaid, before the domain is registered, the special startup fee (initial registration fee) is no longer charged.

The registration/renewal fee is now EUR 39, for all domains. Invoices will from now on be issued in euros to reduce the exchange-rate risks involving Icelandic currency. No VAT is levied on registrations with foreign billing contacts.

See the ISNIC tariff for more information.

ISNIC update

19:30. The ISNIC web server has now been updated.
Users should see no visible changes, and functionality should remain the same for all operations.

ISNIC

Announcement

The ISNIC web site will be down for maintainence on 29th November 2008.
The service period will be from 13:00 GMT to 16:00 GMT.
During the service period, new domains cannot be registered and domains cannot be modified.
This maintenance does not affect the availability of any .IS domain.
ISNIC - Internet a Islandi, Technical Staff

.IS - a highly secure Top Level Domain

ISNIC and it's forerunners have registered .IS domains from 1988. ".IS" is consistently among the top 5 most secure domains in the world according to McAfee Inc, 2008, and 2007. Dot IS was one of the first ccTLD's to have a completely automated registration system, established in 2001.

ISNIC maintains the security of it's domain registration by insisting on correct and up-to-date information on all registrants and all domain contacts, and by making the registration of .IS domains dependent on well defined technical requirements. Please reed about ISNIC's Technical Requirements.

On-line chat

The Svarbox (above) is a secure on-line chat, directly to an on-line ISNIC representative. Click on the yellow logo, type your name and e-mail click the button and we will reply to your question, immediately or via email if we are not here...

.IS Registration rules changed.

Registering .IS domains no longer requires the domain's administrative contact to be icelandic. The registration steps are simple: First you need a username (NIC- handle) from ISNIC. To create your "NIC-handle" select "Contacts/register" from the menu (left). Once you have verified your username you can login, and then select "Domains/register" from the menu. Further explanations can be found in the FAQ.

For registrants who need a legal presence in Iceland, the Agents are still available and can assist with domestic matters such as copyright, trademarks or other issues.

Please note that ISNIC reserves the right to revoke registrations with wrong or incomplete contact information.

The ISNIC Team

Addendum to the upcoming regulation change

Following the announcement of .IS domain rules to change 29th October, the ISNIC Board has made an additional modification.

The modification will remove fully the requirement for an Icelandic agent, ID number or a registered agent. However, we expect domestic registrations to include ID numbers for legal reasons and tax purposes.

The purpose of agents is still valid, however the reason for agents, overseas, is reduced and we point to the ISP application here on our website - which will be more beneficial for resellers. Local agents will still be available to foreign companies who require formal presence, and for issues regarding protection of trademarks, logos etc.

In order to maintain a accurate and trustworthy database, some additional amendments are made regarding the cancellation of domains. They will be available shortly and will be introduced on the ISNIC website.

Administrative contact regulation change

Administrative contact or proxy agent change

The Board of ISNIC has agreed to modify the requirement for foreign registrations (Rule 2.3.1). Foreign registrants will here after be able to designate a registered agent as before, however the agent list will also include foreign agents who have a service agreement with ISNIC.

We expect the list to grow and allow any foreign registrant to register .is domains through their own local registrars. Those who have further questions or wish to become involved are welcome to contact us by email isnic@isnic.is or by phone.

ISNIC still expects all new domains to be correctly registered and for any domain, there will be a person or a company which can be contacted at any time, this will continue our effort to maintain a highly trustworthy and secure domain - which .IS certainly is.

This change is also in line with other Nordic and European countries and the global trend, which is to allow more and more people or companies to identify with the TLD they desire.

This has been formally announced as of September 30th 2008. Rules and regulations are enacted at first 30 days after they have been formally announced.

Dot IS now open 24/7

You can now register and pay for a secure .IS top level domain by creditcard, and register your older domains into automatic and secure renewal.

Registration process in six easy steps:

1. Select Contacts -> Register, from the menu, if you are a new user.
If are already a registered user you can enter your domain name in the Whois search field, top right hand corner. The result displays the NIC handles related to the domain. Use your NIC handle to login to the ISNIC web or submit a request for lost password.
2. If you have an ISNIC email for a new password, follow the URL and the instructions. You are now logged in and can register domains. If you want to register a .is domain you must enter correct contact information on the domain's registrant. This is a prime issue and makes .is domains highly trustworthy and secure. If you wish to be anonymous, you should not register .is domains.
3. Select Domains -> Register from the menu. Insert the domain name, including the .is ending. Type this correctly, since the domain will be registered according to what you type here. Click Submit and continue.
4. Select your hosting provider or insert your own nameservers. Choose Parking if you do not have a provider yet.
5. Enter the information about the registrant, all Icelandic registrants should have a ID number. Foreigners should enter their address information and must specify an icelandic administrative contact. See Domain->Agents for a list of possible agents.
6. Payment information can be entered directly after this. Alternatively continue with any of the deferred payment options, your domain is queued for registration. Note that payment is only deferred for two days, after that the domain becomes available again.

Your domain should be visible undir 'My Page' with the registration status and payment status. You can also finalize payment there. After the payment has been verified the domain will be registered within 60 minutes. Creditcard payments are verified automatically.

ISNIC (Internet in Island AG) is the Registry for the Top Level Domain .IS.

Registration and renewal fees by creditcard

ISNIC customers can now pay registration and renewal fees for .is domains by creditcard. The last step of the registration process now allows the registrant to select to pay the fees using a creditcard. The registrant can also register the card details with ISNIC and register his/her domains for automatic renewal. In this case the renewal fee will be debeted to the card 60 days prior to its expiry date, automatically.

Existing domains can similarly be registered for automatic renewal. The domain's admin or billing contact logs on the ISNIC web, selects Change Automatic Renewals, and clicks Register for automatic renewal for the each domain where automatic renewal is desired, either selecting to use their already registered creditcard, or registering one for the renewal. The domain will then be renewed 60 days prior to its expiry date, automatically every year while the card is valid.

Dot IS is a very secure domain

According to the new McAfee report Mapping the Mal Web (jun/2008) the icelandic contry code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) .IS is one of the least-risky domains in the world, and the 4th best in Europe, Middle East and Africa regions. Many generic Top Level Domains (gTLD) such as .info, .org, .net and .biz) are, however, very badly rated - dot info beeing the worst domain in the world.

The most heavily trafficked TLD in the world - .com - is, according to McAfee report, much riskier than the avaverage ccTLD by 28,3 percent! This is something to consider strongly when choosing the TLD for your business.

June 17th

June 17th is the Icelandic Independence day and national holiday since 1944, when the date was chosen as the foundation day of democracy in Iceland and seperation from Denmark.
The date has been celebrated since 1907 and is the birthday of one of the most well known Icelandic person: Jón Sigurðsson (he was a diplomat and a congressman and one of the vocal persons in the Icelandic independence battle and its recognized leader).
If you need to contact us please use the Svarbox or send us an email at: isnic@isnic.is

Opening hours change during the summer

Please note that our phone support will only be open from 9-16 during the summer period.

You can also contact us by email or by using the online chat (the yellow Svarbox logo on our website). When gray (off hours) it will send us your message which we will then respond to on next working day.

Birthday of the internet

Today there are 39 years since the contract between ARPA and BBN was made. The ARPANET is the cornerstone of the Internet as we know it today. Another contract, RFC-1, is also published on this day: http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1

Changes to .IS technical requirements

ISNIC has changed the technical requirements for .IS delegations. It is no longer required to provide zone-transfer access to registered .IS domains and a MX record is no longer required.

Technical requirements can be found on our website.

Nameserver requirements
Domain delegation requirements

All registered domains under .IS are required to comply with these requirements and are periodically checked for compliance.

Dot IS now easier to register

Foreign registrants of .IS domains have until now been required to confirm their ownership of the corresponding trademark at the Icelandic Patent Agency (Einkaleyfastofa) before the domain can be registered. This requirement has now been lifted.

Foreigners can now, just as Icelanders, register any .IS domain they please. Foreign nationals, however, are still required to identify a domestic contact person. This is a practical arrangement established to facilitate ISNIC’s ability to contact the domain’s supervisors. Rule no. 2.3.1. has been changed in accordance with the above mentioned, and rule no. 2.3.2. which stipulated dispensations from rule 2.3.1. has been nullified. After these changes all are equal in relation to the rules of ISNIC.

RIPE NCC Operated K-root Server Instance Deployed in Reykjavik

On Thursday 14, October 2004, The RIPE NCC (Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre) in partnership with ISNIC deployed a new mirror instance of the K-root Internet root name server at the Reykjavik Internet Exchange (RIX), Iceland.

For more infromation see the K-root website http://k.root-servers.org/

Registration of IDN names

On July 1 2004 ISNIC started accepting registration of localized (IDN) domain names. Names are restricted to the official icelandic alphabet (ASCII plus áéýúíóþæðö). During the registration "sunrise" period for localized domains (until January 1 2005), preference will be given to registrants of corresponding non-IDN names according to provisional article 14 of the .IS delegation rules.

Note that these names have very limitied utility as most client programs currently lack the ability to translate localized domain names to their ACE encoding (see RFC3090, RFC3091 and RFC3092).

Please contact hostmaster@isnic.is for further information on this.