The complete record · 1986–2026
One manager change in four decades.
.nz has been re-delegated exactly once — in 1996, when the University of Waikato, the newly formed Internet Society of New Zealand and Jon Postel’s IANA all agreed the domain should pass from a university to the community. Every change since has been reorganisation within that community: subsidiaries created, sold and merged; the registry rebuilt twice; the namespace opened up. The trust itself has never moved again. This page is the full record — delegation, modifications and changes.
Chain of custody
Who has held .nz
Four names, one organisation change. The 1996 transfer is the only time the designated manager of .nz has changed — and it happened with the outgoing manager’s support, which is precisely the consensus standard the 2016 MoU later formalised.
Every recorded change
The full timeline
Every documented delegation, governance, registry, namespace, security and framework event on the public record. Filter by kind; each entry links to its source.
The academic network
1986 – 1995-
1986
Delegation
Two sentences from Jon Postel
Jon Postel — then the entirety of IANA — establishes John Houlker of the University of Waikato as manager of the .nz space, via a two-sentence email relayed by Larry Landweber. That informal note, later backed by RFC 1591, is the founding document of .nz.
→ nethistory.co.nz, ch. 14 -
19 Jan 1987
Delegation
.nz enters the root
The formal IANA registration date for .nz. The University of Waikato issues .nz names and maintains the registry — administration is free, and effectively taxpayer-funded, throughout the academic era.
→ IANA root database -
late 1980s
Namespace
A structured namespace from day one
.nz is organised into community second-level domains from the start — ac.nz and co.nz among the first, with org.nz, net.nz, govt.nz, gen.nz and others in place or added through the late 1980s and 1990s. Waikato even runs archie.nz for its Archie search server, retired in the mid-1990s.
→ Wikipedia: .nz -
Apr 1989
Registry ops
The Waikato gateway
New Zealand’s first permanent Internet connection lands at the University of Waikato, which brokers most of the country’s bandwidth to the US backbone. Rex Croft administers the domain registry there — later described as New Zealand’s “father of DNS.”
→ Down to the Wire, 1989 -
1994
Namespace
iwi.nz created
A moderated second level for iwi (Māori tribal groups) — one of the first indigenous domain spaces in the world, second only to nsn.us (1992).
→ Taiuru, Indigenous domain names timeline
Handover to the community
1995 – 2002-
Nov 1995
Governance
ISOCNZ formed
The Internet Society of New Zealand is established to take over .nz policy from the university, founded on the principle that the Internet should remain “uncapturable,” with the society acting as kaitiaki — caretaker or guardian — of the domain.
→ nethistory.co.nz, ch. 14 -
1996
Delegation
The re-delegation — the only one
With registry operation becoming a burden on the University of Waikato, John Houlker, IANA and ISOCNZ agree to transfer .nz to ISOCNZ. Waikato is contracted to keep hosting the namespace until the society can assume full responsibility. It remains the only change of designated manager in .nz history — voluntary, uncontested, and agreed by outgoing manager, incoming manager and IANA alike.
→ Wikipedia: Domainz · nethistory.co.nz -
1996
Registry ops
The free era ends
Registration fees are introduced to fund independent operation — controversial at the time, and the start of .nz as a self-funding public asset rather than a university side-project.
→ nethistory.co.nz, ch. 14 -
15 Apr 1997
Governance
Domainz incorporated
ISOCNZ stands up a subsidiary — The New Zealand Internet Registry Ltd, trading as Domainz — to run the .nz registry, combining registry and registrar functions in one company. The set-up began in late 1996; incorporation follows in April 1997.
→ Wikipedia: Domainz -
Jun 1998
Framework
First-come, first-served upheld in court
The Oggi v McKenzie case affirms the first-come-first-served principle for .nz names — the registration rule that still anchors equitable treatment in the .nz Rules today.
→ nethistory.co.nz, ch. 14 -
1999 – 2000
Governance
The Domainz wars
Domainz’s combined registry-registrar monopoly and its pricing draw sustained fire from ISPs and members. A shared-registry motion is voted down at the 1999 AGM, but a working group follows in March 2000. A troubled Domainz system replacement ships in August 2000 — after a three-day registry outage in May. The fights reshape the society.
→ nethistory.co.nz, ch. 14 · ch. 15 -
May 2001
Governance
ISOCNZ becomes InternetNZ
The society rebrands — a fresh face after the registry battles, and a clear signal it is not merely a local chapter of the international Internet Society. Same organisation, same delegation; only the name changes.
→ nethistory.co.nz, ch. 15
The shared registry and the regulator
2002 – 2013-
14 Oct 2002
Registry ops
The Shared Registry System goes live
The structural answer to the Domainz wars: registry operation (NZRS) is split from competitive registrar business, and the new Office of the Domain Name Commissioner takes over oversight of the register. The registry-registrar-regulator separation built here still defines .nz today.
→ InternetNZ: SRS -
2002
Namespace
maori.nz launches
After applications in 1997, 2001 and 2002, a second level for Māori individuals and organisations goes live — the third indigenous domain space in the world, drawing international attention.
→ Taiuru, Indigenous domain names timeline -
5 Jul 2003
Namespace
geek.nz approved
The InternetNZ council approves a second level for the technically inclined — a community-proposed 2LD through the open policy process.
→ Wikipedia: .nz -
Aug 2003
Governance
Domainz sold to Melbourne IT
InternetNZ exits the registrar business entirely, selling Domainz and cementing the separation of the natural-monopoly registry from competitive services — removing the conflict of interest that fuelled the late-90s fights.
→ Wikipedia: Domainz -
Jan 2004
Registry ops
SRS source code released under GPL
The registry software that runs .nz is opened to the public — an unusually transparent move for a national registry of the era.
→ Wikipedia: .nz -
1 Apr 2008
Governance
The regulator becomes a company
The Office of the Domain Name Commissioner is restructured as Domain Name Commission Ltd (DNCL), a subsidiary of InternetNZ with an independent compliance and dispute-resolution role — the structure recorded in the MoU’s Appendix 1 to this day.
→ Wikipedia: .nz -
Jul 2010
Namespace
Macrons arrive: .māori.nz
Macronised vowels (ā ē ī ō ū) become registrable after a campaign dating to 2005, making proper te reo Māori possible in .nz names — with māori.nz established alongside maori.nz.
→ Wikipedia: .nz · Taiuru -
2011 – 2012
Security
DNSSEC deployed
The registry accepts DS records from 2 May 2011; by 2012 the .nz zone and the public second levels are fully signed, adding cryptographic integrity to the namespace.
→ DNC policy notification · InternetNZ docs -
Sep 2012
Namespace
kiwi.nz opens
Approved 24 August 2012 and available from 11 September — the last community second level added before the namespace itself opened up.
→ Wikipedia: .nz
The open .nz
2013 – today-
Oct 2013
Namespace
Decision: open the second level
After consultation, InternetNZ decides to allow registrations directly at the second level — anyname.nz — bringing .nz into line with most other top-level domains.
→ Wikipedia: .nz -
30 Sep 2014
Namespace
anyname.nz goes live
Direct registrations open with a six-month sunrise for holders of existing third-level names; general availability follows on 30 March 2015. Direct .nz names now make up roughly 22% of the register.
→ Wikipedia: .nz -
May 2016
Framework
The MBIE–InternetNZ MoU
Thirty years after Postel’s email, the delegation finally gets a formal domestic framework: MBIE and InternetNZ, as “two significantly interested parties,” sign the MoU whose clauses 29–35 define the only agreed path to any future re-delegation — the machinery this site’s scorecard measures.
→ MoU full text (PDF) · Beehive release -
early 2018
Governance
Group restructure: NZRS folds into InternetNZ
The registry operator NZRS is merged into InternetNZ itself, leaving DNCL as the sole subsidiary — the current group structure, recorded in the MoU’s amended Appendix 1.
→ MoU Appendix 1 -
1 Nov 2022
Registry ops
IRS replaces the SRS
After twenty years, the GPL-era Shared Registry System is retired in favour of the InternetNZ Registry System, a commercial platform from Canada’s CIRA — the second full registry rebuild in .nz history.
→ InternetNZ announcement -
May 2023
Security
DNSSEC validation incident
A key-rotation misalignment causes validation failures for some .ac.nz domains — the notable operational blemish of the IRS era, publicly post-mortemed, with no recurrence on the record.
→ Technical incident report -
2025
Governance
The constitution fight
A proposed Te Tiriti-centric constitution triggers the most turbulent governance year since the Domainz wars: a five-fold protest membership surge, national coverage, adoption with over 80% of votes cast, and a critic elected to the board. Covered in detail on the scorecard timeline.
→ scorecard: the public record -
15 Dec 2025
Delegation record
Latest IANA record update — routine
The .nz root database entry is updated, as it periodically is, for administrative and technical details — contacts and nameservers, currently ns1–ns7.dns.net.nz. Record updates like this are housekeeping within the delegation, not changes of manager.
→ IANA root database -
17 Mar 2026
Framework
.nz Rules v3.2 in force
The latest revision of the rules governing the registry-registrar-registrant chain, delivered through the standard open policy process.
→ .nz Agreements 2025 -
Mar 2026
Registry ops
The register today
764,987 registered .nz domains, with growth concentrated in direct second-level names after a flat patch through 2024–25. Thirty-nine years in, .nz remains delegated to the organisation the community chose in 1996.
→ Wikipedia: .nz · SiteHost, 2026
The namespace
Second-level domains
The .nz namespace has grown from a handful of community categories to sixteen active second levels plus direct registration. Introduction dates are given where the public record supports them; precise dates for several early second levels are simply not well documented.
| Second level | For | Type | Introduced |
|---|---|---|---|
| ac.nz | Tertiary and academic institutions | Open | original set, late 1980s |
| co.nz | Commercial — the workhorse of the register | Open | original set, late 1980s |
| org.nz | Non-profit organisations | Open | 1980s–90s |
| net.nz | Internet service providers and infrastructure | Open | 1980s–90s |
| gen.nz | General use | Open | 1990s |
| school.nz | Schools | Open | 1990s |
| govt.nz | Central and local government | Moderated | 1980s–90s |
| mil.nz | NZ Defence Force | Moderated | 1980s–90s |
| cri.nz | Crown Research Institutes | Moderated | 1990s |
| iwi.nz | Iwi — Māori tribal groups | Moderated | 1994 |
| health.nz | Health sector organisations | Moderated | 1990s |
| maori.nz | Māori individuals and organisations | Open | 2002 |
| geek.nz | The technically inclined | Open | 2003 |
| parliament.nz | Parliamentary agencies | Moderated | 2000s |
| kiwi.nz | New Zealand identity | Open | 2012 |
| anyname.nz | Direct second-level registration | Open | 2014 |
| archie.nz | Waikato’s Archie search server | Retired | late 1980s – mid 1990s |
What the record shows
Four decades, one precedent
The only re-delegation in .nz history — 1996 — happened because the outgoing manager wanted out, the incoming manager was ready, and the community and IANA agreed. That is, almost exactly, the consensus standard RFC 1591 implies and the 2016 MoU now spells out: clear agreement that the current manager should not continue, and a better local manager ready to take over. Everything else in forty years — subsidiaries formed, sold and merged; two registry rebuilds; a namespace opened to direct registration; governance battles in 1999 and 2025 alike — has been change within the delegation, not of it.
How far today’s situation sits from that bar is what the scorecard measures, under a published methodology.
Sources for this page
- IANA root zone database — .nz delegation record
- Newman, K., Connecting the Clouds / NetHistory NZ — ch. 14, “Battle of the Names” and ch. 15, “The Proxy Revolution”
- Down to the Wire — the story of New Zealand’s Internet
- Wikipedia — .nz and Domainz
- Taiuru, K. — Māori activism and hidden achievements in New Zealand’s Internet Domain Name System (PDF)
- Domain Name Commission — DNSSEC policy amendment notification · InternetNZ — DNSSEC support in .nz
- InternetNZ — the Shared Registry System · new registry go-live announcement
- MBIE–InternetNZ MoU (2016, Appendix 1 amended 2025)
- SiteHost — NZ domains are back on a high (2026)