In 1984, when the Internet was officially formed, a set of general-purpose top-level domains (TLDs) were defined: .com, .edu, .gov, .mil, .org and .net.

As the Internet exploded in use over the years, the need for more Internet control and for more TLDs became apparent.

In September 1998, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) began the management domain names. And on November 16, 2000, ICANN announced seven new TLDs: .aero, .biz, .coop, .museum, .name, .pro and .INFO.

Of those seven domains, .INFO was the first one approved by ICANN, the first entered into the root zone and the first one launched.

Today, with almost eight million names registered, .INFO remains the fourth most popular generic TLD in use (just behind .com, .net and .org).

And among the seven domains announced in 2000, .INFO represents almost 50% of -- and more than double the size of -- any other new TLD on the market.