What is an IDN?

An internationalized domain name (IDN) is one that contains one or more native language characters. Such domain names could contain letters or characters such as Arabic, Chinese, and German etc.

What are the benefits from IDN?

According to research from Global Reach, 65% of Internet users are non-English speakers. By having an IDN domain name, you are addressing the enormous opportunity that is available in the non-English market. With the increasing number of non-English speaking Internet users, businesses now have the opportunity to target a wider audience.

IDNs also make it easier for businesses to promote localized products and services. For example, if you are a locally focused business, whose name and identify is represented in your native language, you no longer need to translate your name, products and services into Latin Characters (English).

Supported Languages

The supported languages in various IDN namespaces at Instra include:

Naming Polices for IDN

• The length of an IDN can be between 3 and 64 characters after it is converted into the ACE string format.
• Some IDN namespaces can only support one single language script.
• An IDN may not support non-alphanumeric nor non-ideographic characters, i.e. typographic and pictographic dingbats
• An IDN may not support characters from the following scripts: Braille, Inherited, Linear B