Central registry managing .de and ENUM domains, operating DNS infrastructure, Anycast name service and Escrow services.
DENIC eG
Frankfurt am Main · DarmstadtNew on Amplifa
About DENIC eG
DENIC eG, based in Frankfurt am Main, is the central registry for all .de domains and manages the central domain register with over 17 million entries. Through a worldwide network of name servers and two independent, highly secure data centers with 24/7 monitoring, the cooperative ensures that .de domains are accessible worldwide within seconds. In addition to domain registration, DENIC offers services via its wholly owned subsidiary DENIC Services GmbH & Co. KG in Darmstadt, such as Anycast name service for TLD registries (24 server locations on 6 continents), Data and Digital Escrow, and ENUM domains for the German number range (+49). The service portfolio also includes DNSSEC, .de Registry Lock, the whois service, the TRANSIT service, the DISPUTE procedure, DENICdirect, and tools such as the NAST Predelegation Check. Founded in 1996 by 37 Internet service providers, the non-profit cooperative today unites around 300 members from the provider, registrar and hosting sectors and operates according to the certification standards ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and ISO 22301:2020.
- Site
- Frankfurt am Main
- Processes
- Registration and management of .de domains, Management of the central domain register, ENUM domains (.9.4.e164.arpa), whois domain lookup, DNSSEC, .de Registry Lock, Anycast name service for TLD registries, Data Escrow / Digital Escrow (via DENIC Services GmbH & Co. KG)
- Materials
- Domain Name System (DNS), DNS Security Extensions, Anycast name service, DENIC's own cloud platform, IPv6, ENUM (.9.4.e164.arpa)
- Certificates
- ISO/IEC 27001:2022 (Information Security Management), ISO 22301:2020 (Business Continuity Management), ISO/IEC 27001:2022, ISO 22301:2020
- Founded
- 1996
- Industries
- Internet infrastructure / domain registry (ccTLD .de), TLD registry services (Anycast DNS, Escrow) for registries and registrars, Telecommunications (ENUM)
- 01
Domain registration via members (providers/registrars)
- 02
Holder data verification (NIS-2) and risk-based data review
- 03
Management of the central domain register in the real-time registration system
- 04
Operation of the DNS infrastructure (name servers, Anycast, DNSSEC)
- 05
24/7 monitoring and information security
- 06
Additional services (Escrow, Registry Lock, TRANSIT, DISPUTE)
Technologies & Methods
Domain Name System (DNS)
Foundational technology for resolving domain names into IP addresses, the basis of all registry and name service offerings.
DNS Security Extensions
Cryptographic signing of DNS data to protect against manipulation such as DNS spoofing and cache poisoning.
Anycast name service
Distributed server architecture at 24 locations on 6 continents for short response times and failure resilience.
DENIC's own cloud platform
Sovereign platform operated in-house, the basis of the cloud-native registration system.
IPv6
Full support of the modern Internet protocol for future-proof domain services.
ENUM (.9.4.e164.arpa)
Linking of telephone numbers to Internet services via the DNS for the German number range (+49).
Locations
Frankfurt am Main
DEHead office and business office of DENIC eG
- Materials
- Registry operations, DNS infrastructure
- Two independent highly secure data centers
- Real-time registration system
- DENIC's own cloud platform
- 24/7 monitoring
Darmstadt
DELocation of DENIC Services GmbH & Co. KG (Escrow, Anycast, DENICdirect)
- Materials
- Data/Digital Escrow, Anycast name service
- Data centers in Germany and Switzerland
Services & Offerings
Inside the production
Industries
Additional services
Reference customers
Quality & Information Security
DENIC operates a certified management system in accordance with ISO/IEC 27001:2022 (information security) and ISO 22301:2020 (business continuity). Systems are monitored permanently through 24/7 monitoring; two independent data centers ensure redundancy and stability for billions of daily queries.
| Evidence | Frankfurt am Main |
|---|---|
| ISO/IEC 27001:2022 | |
| ISO 22301:2020 |
History
- 1986
Entry of the country code .de in the IANA database on 5 November; initially administered by CSNET in the USA.
- 1988
Administration of .de is transferred to the computer science computing operations group (IRB) of the University of Dortmund; the name DENIC is created.
- 1993
Foundation of the interest group Deutsches Network Information Center (IV-DENIC) by DFN, EUNET and Xlink.
- 1994
The data center of the University of Karlsruhe takes over the administration of .de domains from January (approx. 1,000 domains).
- 1996
DENIC eG is founded in December by 37 German Internet service providers.
- 1997
Establishment of the DENIC business office in Frankfurt am Main in July.
- 2006
DENIC takes over the registration of ENUM domains for the German number range (+49).
- 2021
On 13 July, the 17-millionth .de domain is registered; 25 years of DENIC eG; DNS 3.0 rollout of the first virtual name server location in Sydney.
- 2022
Construction of DENIC's own cloud platform; a study confirms .de as the most popular domain ending in Germany.
- 2023
Migration of the .de real-time registration system to a cloud-native stack; founding of the first European TLD ISAC; host of ICANN78 in Hamburg with over 2,500 participants.
- 2024
Founding of IGF-D e.V. to strengthen the Internet governance dialogue in Germany.
- 2025
Introduction of the open-source tool OpenPAQ for address data validation (July); relaunch of the digital presence (December).
- 2026
30 years of DENIC eG.