.ac

.ac

Introduced	1997
TLD type	Country code top-level domain
Status	Active
Registry	Ascension Island Network Information Centre (run by Internet Computer Bureau)
Sponsor	Cable and Wireless (Ascension Island)
Intended use	Entities connected with Ascension Island
Actual use	Various uses, sometimes connected to education and academia; a few sites actually on Ascension Island
Registration restrictions	2nd-level registrant must have professional or academic qualification (apparently not actually enforced); 3rd level registrant must be resident on Ascension Island
Structure	Registrations are taken directly at the second level or at third level beneath various 2nd-level labels
Documents	Terms & Conditions; Rules
Dispute policies	Dispute Resolution Policy
Website	NIC.AC
DNSSEC	yes

.ac is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Ascension Island. It is administered by NIC.AC, a subsidiary of the Internet Computer Bureau based in the United Kingdom.

Registration for this domain is open to anyone. The registry accepts registrations of internationalized domain names.^[1]

.ac is marketed by some domain-brokers as a domain for the city of Aachen in Germany, using the analogy to the automotive license plate designation ("AC") for the city.

Use as an abbreviation for "academic"

Due to its similarity to the .ac (“academic”) second-level domain that exists under some country code top-level domains, some educational institutions also register under the .ac top-level domain:

• Ishik University (http://ishik.ac/)
• The University of Kurdistan - Hawler (http://ukh.ac/)
• Ralston College in Savannah, Georgia, USA (http://www.ralston.ac)
• The Faith Mission Bible College in Edinburgh, Scotland (http://www.fmbc.ac)
• The Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) in Bangkok, Thailand (http://www.tropmedres.ac/)
• INFORM (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements), based at the London School of Economics (http://inform.ac/)
• Newcastle University (http://www.unc.ac/), an online institution unconnected with Newcastle University in the United Kingdom and the University of Newcastle, Australia

Second-level subdomains

There are five second-level domains:

• com.ac: Commercial Entities
• net.ac: Network Service Providers
• gov.ac: Government
• org.ac: Non-commercial Organizations
• mil.ac: Military

See also

• .uk
• .sh

References

External links

• IANA .ac whois information
• .AC Domain Name Registry