Open Root Server Network (ORSN) was a network of root nameservers for the Internet, operating from February 2002 until the end of 2008. Its root zone information was normally kept in synchronization with that of the network coordinated by ICANN. The networks were thus compatible, although ORSN was operated independently from ICANN. The ORSN servers were primarily placed in Europe.
The founders of ORSN are concerned that ICANN is ultimately controlled by the government of the United States. Their aim was to limit the control over the Internet that this gives, while ensuring that domain names remain unambiguous. They also expected their network to make name resolutions faster for everyone.
Several Internet service providers in Europe used ORSN as a root for their name servers. There were also public name servers that used ORSN.
ORSN had 2 operating modes: ICANN BASED and INDEPENDENT (default). ICANN BASED operating mode involved daily synchronization, except that removed TLDs were not removed from the ORSN root. INDEPENDENT mode had no automatic synchronization and was activated "whenever the political situation of the world - in our opinion - makes this step necessary because the possibility of a modification and/or a downtime of the ICANN root zone exists or we do not want that our root zone will rebuild automatically."
ORSN had 13 root servers:
| Letter | Operator | Location |
|---|---|---|
| A | Celox GmbH | Frankfurt, Germany |
| B | Funkfeuer | Vienna, Austria |
| C | KEVAG Telekom GmbH | Koblenz, Germany |
| D | Cyberlink Internet Services AG | Zurich, Switzerland |
| E | TRIERA Broadband | Maribor, Slovenia |
| F | Zen Systems ApS | Lyngby, Denmark |
| G | NFSi - Soluções Internet, Lda | Leiria, Portugal |
| H | Init Seven AG | Zurich, Switzerland |
| I | ALET.IT | Pisa, Italy |
| J | ASDA | Athens, Greece |
| K | Titan Networks Netherlands BV | Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| L | Paul Vixie | San Jose, California, United States |
| M | Home of the Brave GmbH | Frankfurt, Germany |
On 2008/10/23, ORSN announced the project would be shut down by 2008-12-31 00:00 (UTC).
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