Canada reaches 1M dot-ca Internet domains

Ottawa -- Canadian Internet users have registered 1 million "dot-ca" Internet domain names, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority said Tuesday.

CIRA's president and CEO, Byron Holland, said the .ca domain was growing at a rate of 20 percent per year.

"Dot-ca represents Canada on the Internet. A dot-ca domain name, Web site, or e-mail address means you can be confident that you are dealing with a Canadian or Canadian business online," a statement from Holland said.

The first dot-ca domain name, upei.ca, was registered by the University of Prince Edward Island in 1988.

The million-mark was hit by lawyer Brent Krause for his Calgary, Alberta, practice, CIRA said.

Among domain extensions regulated by the global Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, .ca ranks as 17th largest, with .com by far the leader, the authority said.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International