EURid and Netnod sign anycast agreement

EURid and Netnod sign anycast agreement.

Brussels and Stockholm, 1 August 2010 - EURid (the European Registry of Internet Domain Names) and Netnod have signed an agreement for Domain Name System (DNS) anycast of the .eu top-level domain (TLD).

Anycast is an Internet routing methodology that enables an online service to be available from many different locations around the world, using the same IP address. This agreement between EURid and Netnod significantly strengthens the robustness and resilience of the .eu nameserver infrastructure and brings the domain name service closer to the end-user, thereby shortening domain resolution response times. One of the benefits for the end-user is overall improvement in web and mail performance.

"We are delighted to be working together with such a reputable organisation as Netnod", said Marc Van Wesemael, General Manager of EURid. "It is one of the most trusted names in DNS with extensive experience in anycasting and DNS operations". He continued: "Anycast is today an established method of improving resilience and redundancy of the DNS. EURid has more than three million domain names, available in 27 different countries. It is a natural choice for us to use anycast to ensure stable and robust operations. Netnod was an obvious organisation to partner up with as it was a key criterion for EURid to choose an operator that fully supports DNSSEC."

The agreement starts on 1 August 2010, which means that the improved .eu TLD service is now available from more than 35 additional locations around the world.

"We are proud to be serving the .eu domain, one of the largest TLDs in the world", said Kurt Erik Lindqvist, CEO of Netnod. "EURid is a well known TLD which has shown an impressive growth since its inception. As a long-time advocator of DNSSEC, Netnod is particularly pleased to be working with EURid as it is one of the first TLDs in world who have signed their zone. This is a very positive step forward. We look forward to a good partnership with EURid in years to come!"

Netnod and its subsidiary Autonomica are not-for-profit organisations, which provide critical common services for the Internet.

EURid is the not-for-profit organisation appointed by the European Commission to operate the .eu top-level domain.