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Visualizing a better internet

A SIDN case study

Published May 2018
visualising_a_better_internet

SIDN, or Stichting Internet Domeinregistratie Nederland, is one of those organizations you’ve probably never heard of, but is nonetheless fundamental to how you use the Internet. Every day their domain name servers (DNS) process billions of queries and everytime you navigate to a Dutch website, or send an email to someone with a .nl address, SIDN is involved, making sure you reach the right address.

In 1986 the Dutch Centre for Mathematics and Information (CWI) registered cwi.nl to become the first active website on the .nl zone which was, at that point, the only active country zone outside the US. Ten years later, as the number of Internet users and websites continued to grow, SIDN was established and took on the responsibilities of managing the .nl DNS zone from CWI.