ICANN | .AX Country Code Top Level Domain Becomes Operational

Last week, the Åland Islands country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) .AX announced that they had become operational. This follows formal approval of the new ccTLD by the ICANN Board on the 9th of June, 2006 and addition of the .AX domain to the root zone shortly afterwards.

The Åland Islands (pronounced "OH-land"), is an autonomous province of Finland, representing a cluster of 6,500 islands located in the Baltic sea between the mainlands of Sweden and Finland. Its population of 26,200 inhabits 65 of the islands and speaks Swedish as their primary language. .AX will make the Åland Islands more visible on the Internet.

A comprehensive report on the delegation of .AX can be found at: http://www.iana.org/reports/ax-report-09jun06.pdf.

Media Contacts:

Andrew Robertson, Edelman (London)
Ph: +44 7921 588 770
E: andrew.robertson@edelman.com

Tanzanica King, ICANN (USA) Ph: +1 310 301 5804
E: tanzanica.king@icann.org

About ICANN

ICANN is a non-profit organisation responsible for coordinating the Internet's systems of unique identifiers, including the systems of domain names and numeric addresses that are used to reach computers on the Internet. ICANN's mission is to ensure the stable and secure operation of these unique identifier systems, which are vital to the Internet' operation. In addition, ICANN coordinates policy development related to these technical functions through its effective bottom-up consensus model.