What is ICANN? ICANN is an abbreviation from Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. It is the non-profit organization that’s responsible for the assignment and coordination of unique Internet addresses and names for all devices connected to the Internet, which enables them to communicate with each other. ICANN has a crucial role in the development of the Internet policy as it defines the rules for assigning domain names and IPs as well. The ICANN authorizes the usage of new generic Top-Level Domains.
How Does ICANN Work?
In order to coordinate the communication between all devices online ICANN takes the responsibility to coordinate the Domain Name System (DNS), the allocation of IP addresses, it also assigns all Top Level Domains (TLD) and manages all root name servers and protocol identifiers. In 2009 ICANN launched Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) that allow the usage and registration of TLDs that can be encoded in non-Latin alphabets. Most of these operations are managed by IANA, a department previously operating on behalf of the U.S. government, but now administered by ICANN.