Currently, there’s no recognized top-level domain (TLD) called .FAIRWINDS in the Root Zone Database of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), the organization responsible for the global coordination of the DNS Root and IP addressing systems. The Root Zone Database represents the delegation details of top-level domains, including gTLDs such as .com, .net, .org, and country-code TLDs such as .uk, .us, .cn, .in etc. You can confirm this from IANA’s official website.
However, it is possible for a TLD like .FAIRWINDS to be introduced in the future. This has been the case for branded TLDs like .google, .apple, and .amazon, which are used by the companies Google, Apple, and Amazon respectively. These TLDs represent the brand identity on the internet. They provide a unique space in the digital world where a brand can have complete control over its online presence.
For example, Google operates websites on its branded TLD like about.google, sustainability.google rather than using traditional “.com” or “.org” TLDs. Similarly, Amazon operates its sustainability website on the domain sustainability.amazon.
These branded TLDs are a result of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), the global authority over domain names, opening the internet’s addressing system to unrestricted new TLDs in 2012. The application process, evaluation criteria, and operating rules for these new TLDs are detailed in ICANN’s Applicant Guidebook, which is available on the ICANN’s official website.
FAIRWINDS could potentially be a future branded TLD specific to a company, organization, or a specific cause. It’s worth noting that obtaining a branded TLD is not a simple process. It requires a great deal of resources, including a sizable investment of both time and money. As of the most recent application round, the evaluation fee alone is $185,000 with additional costs likely.
To sum up, FAIRWINDS is not a recognized TLD currently. But as trends in digital branding evolve, it’s possible we could see more specific and branded TLDs introduced accordingly.
Sources:
- Root Zone Database from IANA’s official website: https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db
- ICANN’s Official Website: https://newgtlds.icann.org/en/applicants/agb
- Google Registry: https://registry.google/
- Amazon Registry Services: https://www.amazonregistry.com/
- ICANN’s Expansion of TLDs: https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/program-2012-02-25-en.
