What were you doing this week back in 1985? Answer: Probably watching the debut of Back to the Future, a early Steven Spielberg movie which incorporated novel uses of technology to travel in time. During that same time in 1985, however, another innovative use of technology was also making its debut—one with much greater implications for improving our lives on a global scale.

On July 10, 1985 the first .ORG domain name (mitre.org) was registered, joining the initial registrations in .com and 5 other “generic top level domains” in the Internet’s Root zone. This date marks the starting point of the Internet revolution by allowing Internet users to locate online resources by easy-to-remember names instead of complex numbers. Making the Internet more accessible has spurred global economic development, improved freedoms and increased access to knowledge for the last 25 years.

Afilias is pleased to be a partner with .ORG, The Public Interest Registry (PIR) in supporting the millions of .ORG domains now in use worldwide. We are proud to provide state of the art registry and DNS services which ensure that .ORG is a reliable and secure home for the millions of organizations worldwide who depend on their .ORG online identity to pursue their missions. We have worked closely for the past seven years with PIR and its parent organization, the Internet Society (ISOC), to continuously upgrade the critical infrastructure supporting .ORG to meet the needs of both current and future Internet users. The recent deployment of a significantly upgraded security technology, DNSSEC, across the .ORG domain is but one example of how PIR, ISOC and Afilias join together to ensure the .ORG domain is exemplary, safe and trusted.

Since 2003, when PIR became the steward of .ORG, .ORG has grown by almost 300% to over 8 million domains. This growth is a testament to the dedicated and focused team at PIR, the secure and reliable technology underpinning the registry, and to the engaged base of active registrars, who serve the expanding core of .ORG registrants and the larger universe of .ORG Internet users. The achievements of .ORG over the past twenty-five years in general and the seven years in particular point to a great renaissance and a period of extraordinary activity and success for .ORG, and bode well for the next twenty-five years.

The entire team at Afilias congratulates Alexa Raad, CEO of PIR (CircleID), her team, ISOC and the Internet community on achieving this important and historic milestone. Happy Birthday .ORG!

Click for Larger Image / .ORG Timeline & History