overview

- generics

- nations

- territories

- 2LDs

- alternatives?

     2nd Level Domains

Most countries subdivide their national spaces on the web into second level domains (2LDs). As noted earlier in this profile, the first level in the hierarchy is the national or generic space (for example dot-com or dot-au), with the second level reflecting a functional or other grouping and the third level representing individual sites.

Apart from some technical requirements there are no rules on

• the number of 2LDs under a national TLD
• the title of those 2LDs
• demarcations between those 2LDs

Individual nations are thus broadly free to manage naming of sites within their national spaces.

Most countries have four or five 2LDs, with one usually reserved for government entities and one reserved for educational institutions (an 'edu' or 'ac' 2LD). There is no innate reason for that number or categorisation, which instead reflects national adaptation of the generic TLDs. Many countries for example have an 'org' 2LD, a 'net' 2LD, a 'com' or 'co' 2LD and an 'edu' 2LD.

Some nations have moved towards reducing the number of 2LDs, so that site names appear immediately after the ccTLD suffix. Examples are the Netherlands, Belgium and Canada. That does not appear to have tangibly impeded navigation by users or increased regulatory difficulties, despite assertions that simplification results in fraud or confuses consumers.

Some countries have a significantly higher number of 2LDs. New Zealand for example has 10 (and is likely to add a 'maori' 2LD). Norway has a grand 33, most relating to its largest metropolitan areas. Hungary has 31, China has 37.

     Australia

The dot-au space was formerly managed by Melbourne University employee Robert Elz, in line with the origins of the net as a nonprofit research network within academia. Mr Elz set the rules (one reason why there is a 'dropbear.id' 2LD) and rather heroically processed many of the applications for domain registration.

The au Domain Administration Ltd (auDA), the nonprofit industry body discussed in more detail in a separate profile, is now responsible under Commonwealth telecommunications legislation for administration of dot-au. It is meant to develop and administer policy. It has scope to delegate registry and registrar responsibilities to commercial or nonprofit service providers. The expectation is that competition in service provision will be introduced in the final quarter of 2001, with a significant reduction in domain registration costs (currently uncompetitive with gTLDs and benchmarks such as Canada).

As we've discussed in detail in Analysphere, our weekly journal, auDA is proposing changes to the structure of 2LDs within dot-au and to eligibility for registration of domains.

The current structure is as follows.

.com.au - commercial entities (The domain name must match the business name registered with the state/federal government)

.net.au - ISPs and other network service providers

.edu.au - educational institutions (Universities and other bodies of national significance are registered directly in this domain. State based bodies are registered in a state 3LD, for example name.nsw.edu.au)

.gov.au - federal government bodies are registered below .gov.au. State or local government are registered in their state's 3LD, such as name.sa.gov.au

.asn.au - incorporated bodies, political parties, trade unions, sporting and special interest clubs

.id.au - for individuals use with a set of third level domains named after flora and fauna (e.g. dropbear.id.au, echidna.id.au,emu.id.au )

.info.au - used to identify major Australian information resources.

.telememo.au - a gateway to the X.400 email service .

.csiro.au - for units of the Commonwealth Scientific & Industry Research Organisation (CSIRO), the federal research and development organisation

.conf.au - for short duration conference and exhibitions (once the conference or exhibition is finished the domain must be returned).

.org.au - a catch-all, for registered organisations that do not fit within other 2LDs such as .com.au or .asn.au

There are several 2LDs that are no longer in use:

.otc.au (former OTC X.400 gateway)

.gw.au (former AARNet gateway)

.oz.au. (for machines connected to ACSnet)