Central registry operating .de and ENUM domains as well as DNS and escrow services
DENIC eG
Frankfurt am Main · DarmstadtNew on Amplifa
About DENIC
DENIC eG, based in Frankfurt am Main, is the central registry for all .de domains. Founded in 1996 as a non-profit cooperative by 37 German internet service providers, it today counts around 300 members. DENIC maintains the central register of all .de domains, operates a worldwide network of nameservers using anycast technology at 24 locations on 6 continents, runs two independent, highly secure data centers, and also manages ENUM domains for the German numbering space (+49). With more than 17 million registered domains, .de is one of the largest top-level domains worldwide. Through its wholly owned subsidiary DENIC Services GmbH & Co. KG in Darmstadt, DENIC offers Data Escrow and Digital Escrow as an exclusive ICANN Data Escrow Agent, as well as anycast nameservice for other TLD registries. Since 2023, the real-time registration system has been running on a cloud-native stack on DENIC's own cloud platform.
- Site
- Frankfurt am Main
- Processes
- Registration and administration of .de domains (registry), ENUM domains (delegation .9.4.e164.arpa), whois service / domain query, TRANSIT service, DENICdirect, DISPUTE proceedings, DNSSEC, IDN domains
- Materials
- DNS Security Extensions, Anycast Nameservice, IPv6, DENIC Cloud
- Certificates
- ISO/IEC 27001:2022, ISO 22301:2020
- Founded
- 1996
- Industries
- Internet infrastructure / Domain registry, IT security, Web hosting (members)
- 01
Domain registration via members (registrars)
- 02
Administration of the central domain register
- 03
Real-time registration system
- 04
Nameserver operation (anycast, DNSSEC)
- 05
Monitoring and holder data verification
- 06
Escrow and additional services via DENIC Services
Technologies and Processes
DNS Security Extensions
Cryptographic signing of DNS responses to protect against manipulation such as cache poisoning.
Anycast Nameservice
Server locations distributed worldwide for short response times, resilience and protection against DDoS overload.
IPv6
Full support of the modern internet protocol for future-proof domain services.
DENIC Cloud
Own cloud platform as a sovereign basis for the .de registration system and future services.
Locations
Frankfurt am Main
DEHead office / Main headquarters
- Two independent data centers
- Real-time registration system
- 24/7 monitoring
Darmstadt
DEDENIC Services GmbH & Co. KG (subsidiary): Escrow and anycast services
- Data Escrow
- Digital Escrow
- Anycast nameservice
Services and Products
Inside the production
Industries
Additional services
Reference customers
Information Security and Certification
DENIC operates according to a certified management system for information security (ISO/IEC 27001:2022) and business continuity (ISO 22301:2020). Systems are monitored 24/7; data centers are located in Germany and Switzerland.
| Evidence | Frankfurt am Main | Darmstadt |
|---|---|---|
| ISO/IEC 27001:2022 | ||
| ISO 22301:2020 |
History
- 1986
Entry of the .de country code in the IANA database on 5 November; administration initially in the USA (CSNET)
- 1988
Administration transferred to the University of Dortmund (IRB)
- 1993
Constitution of the interest group IV-DENIC; University of Karlsruhe takes over administration from January 1994
- 1996
Founding of DENIC eG in December by 37 German internet service providers
- 1997
Establishment of the head office in Frankfurt am Main
- 2006
Registration of German ENUM domains (+49) by DENIC
- 2021
17 millionth .de domain registered (13 July); 25 years of DENIC eG
- 2022
Construction of DENIC's own cloud platform
- 2023
Migration of the .de registration system to a cloud-native stack; founding of TLD ISAC; host of ICANN78 in Hamburg
- 2024
Founding of IGF-D e.V.
- 2025
Introduction of OpenPAQ; new digital presence (December)
- 2026
30 years of DENIC eG