The .LONDON Top-Level Domain (TLD) is a way for residents, businesses, and organizations in the United Kingdom’s capital city to identify themselves clearly in cyberspace. It is a domain extension used heavily by companies in tourism, city services, cultural heritage, and business services. This extends an entity’s digital reach while distinguishing it as distinctly London-based.
Dot London Domains Limited manages the .LONDON TLD. The company itself is a subsidiary of the London & Partners organization, which is the official promotional agency for London that is involved in business and tourism matters. This ensures that the .LONDON TLD is in trusted and knowledgeable hands committed to reaching and even exceeding UK online service standards.
There are specific registration rules that match other country code TLDs (ccTLDs). To get a .LONDON domain name, the registrant does not necessarily need to be located in London, but they must show a “nexus” to the city. This nexus may be anything from currently living in London, doing business there, or simply having a general intent to promote the city.
As of February 2022, more than 63,000 .LONDON domains have been registered, showcasing the digital connection to the beloved city, as per nTLD stats. Among its most noted users are The Evening Standard (standard.london), The New London Theatre (newlondontheatre.london), London Symphony Orchestra (lso.london), and London Metropolitan University (londonmet.london).
The queue for registration of .LONDON domain names – called the Sunrise period – started on April 29, 2014, and registration officially opened to the public on September 9, 2014. Each .LONDON domain name registration is valid for one year, after which it has to be renewed.
Critical technical infrastructure for .LONDON falls under the backend registry service provider, which is Minds + Machines Group Limited (MMX). They are responsible for maintaining operational stability and integrity for the TLD, ensuring consistent and secure DNS resolution, domain registrations, renewals, transfers, and other technical aspects related to domain management.
The .LONDON TLD utilizes standard protocols and operates on the dual-stack IPv4/IPv6 infrastructure. From a web development perspective, the .LONDON domain works just like any TLD, so no special technical requirements are necessary.
Sources:
1. London & Partners About Us (https://www.londonandpartners.com/about-us)
2. nTLD Stats for .LONDON (https://ntldstats.com/tld/london)
3. ICANN Wiki .LONDON (https://icannwiki.org/.london)
4. Minds + Machines (https://mmx.co)
5. Dot London FAQ (https://domains.london/faqs/)
6. Minds + Machines’ Technical Capabilities (https://mmx.co/technical-capability)
