Commerce Department

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced today that it has awarded the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions contract to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).  The IANA functions are key technical services critical to the continued operations of the Internet's underlying address book, the Domain Name System (DNS).

Washington - Commerce Secretary William M. Daley today announced that the Department of Commerce, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), and Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI) have reached a series of agreements that will allow transition of the domain name system to the private sector to move forward.

The Department of Commerce, ICANN, and VeriSign have agreed in principle on the following additional terms to be included in the ICANN and VeriSign Registry Agreements and related agreements, subject to final legal documentation. All other terms of the Agreements remain unchanged.