By Yasin Boelhouwer
Congratulations to SIDN on 40 years of .nl.
Forty years ago, Piet Beertema’s original application in April 1986 and the registration of cwi.nl on 1 May 1986, marked the first registration of a .nl domain, making .nl the first active country-code domain outside the United States.
Since then, .nl has grown into one of the world’s most established and trusted country-code domains, a 40-year milestone the entire Dutch domain industry can be proud of.
At the same time, SIDN is preparing for the next phase with Hello Registry, the new registry platform developed together with CIRA.
With the migration of .nl to Hello Registry scheduled for 1 September 2026, Hello Registry will become the new technical foundation behind one of the industry’s most mature ccTLDs.
You can reread our previously shared update about this here.
From the Realtime Register side, we have already spent considerable time exploring the OT&E environment and assessing what the move to Hello Registry means in practice.
This has given us a clear understanding of:
It also confirms that early preparation is key to ensuring a smooth transition.
A key reason for our early involvement is our Registry Gateway solution.
Because Registry Gateway enables registrars to manage their own direct registry accreditations alongside Realtime Register’s integrations through a single API, we actively invest in understanding new registry platforms at an early stage.
This is particularly relevant for developments like Hello Registry, where early alignment helps ensure:
For us, Hello Registry is more than a platform change at SIDN. It is an important development for the registrar channel, and one we are pleased to engage with early.
As SIDN celebrates 40 years of .nl, it is encouraging to see this milestone matched by a strong investment in the future of the namespace.
You can find out more on the dedicated page, following the button below.