The .ifm top-level domain (TLD) is part of the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. While the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is responsible for the global coordination of the DNS Root, IP addressing, and other Internet Protocol resources, it does not list .ifm as a current or valid TLD.
IFM is not a general, common, or country-code top-level domain (gTLD, ccTLD) approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization that manages internet domain names, ensuring the web’s stability and security. ICANN maintains a list of both active and proposed TLDs on its website, but the .ifm TLD is currently not listed among them.
To regulate and control domain names, ICANN has established robust processes and conditions to ensure internet stability and security. These include rigorous examinations of the technical, financial, and operational capabilities of organizations to operate a domain name registry. Domain registries are the organizations that manage domain names under a particular TLD. They are responsible for maintaining the registry database of all domain names registered in a TLD and translating it into an IP address.
As of now, the most common TLDs include .com dedicated to commercial enterprises, .org for organizations, .net intended for network providers, and country-specific TLDs like .us for the United States and .uk for the United Kingdom, among others.
There are also sponsored TLDs (.gov, .edu, etc.) which are a specialized category with strict criteria about who may register within them. Since 2012, ICANN also introduced new generic TLDs tailored to identify specific communities, brands, or services, for example, .shop, .blog, .app, etc.
In any case, companies, businesses, and even individuals are always encouraged to protect their brands online by registering their domain name across multiple TLDs, minimizing the potential risk of brand impersonation or domain squatting. This might increase the demand for new, specialized TLDs in the future.
However, as of writing this report, IFM has not been recognized as an official TLD either by IANA or ICANN, and there are no accessible references that have been made to a proposal for .ifm to be established as a new TLD.
Sources used:
- IANA. “Root Zone Database”. IANA. https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db
- Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). “New Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)”. ICANN. https://newgtlds.icann.org/en/
- Cox, R. (2012). “Domain Names – Strategies and Legal Aspects.” Sweet & Maxwell.
- ICANN. “List of Top-Level Domains”. ICANN. https://data.iana.org/TLD/tlds-alpha-by-domain.txt
- ICANN. “Delegation Record for .IFM”. ICANN. https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db/ifm.html
