In January 2024, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced its plans to create a new Top Level Domain for IP addresses used only within companies. These addresses were previously identified with less memorable designations such as 192.168.x.x. At that time, there was talk of using .private, .internal, or other TLDs for this purpose. Now, it has been confirmed that ICANN has chosen .internal for this purpose. Addresses designated with this TLD are exclusive to an organization, not accessible from the public internet, and do not need to be registered. They are easier to remember than the IPv4 number groups and are defined and assigned through the organization’s internal DNS server. At the same time, .internal is intended to replace manufacturer-specific solutions like fritz.box, which could potentially lead to conflicts if, for example, .box were to become a public TLD.
The idea for .internal reportedly came from Vint Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google, among others. Cerf stated that Google has been using .internal for internal purposes for years. He mentioned that Google Cloud needed a TLD for private use to eliminate external dependencies and avoid collisions with delegated TLDs. With no existing name for private use, Google introduced .internal on an ad hoc basis. It seems that similar practices are in place in some other companies as well, indicating that .internal had already established itself as a TLD for internal use before receiving official approval from ICANN.