When the Domain Name System (DNS) was created twenty-five years ago this week, eight years before the introduction of the World Wide Web, a few hundred machines were connected to the Internet. Today more than 130 million are connected, and this number is expected to grow substantially as the majority of the world's population goes online. Without a simplified naming scheme like DNS today's Internet would not exist.

One of the greatest achievements of the DNS is its flexibility to adjust to the world's changing needs. What started as a small project that few thought would be such an important aspect in communication, the DNS is now part of the underlying infrastructure of the Internet and provided an alternative to typing the numerical IP addresses for domain names.

When someone wants to access and update their MySpace profile, users type myspace.com into their browser instead of a numeric IP number such as 64.233.187.99. Besides making it easy to surf the net and eliminating the need to remember a numerical sequence for every Web site you visit, DNS also helps route mail, balances load across multiple servers and offers a growing list of new tasks, such as supporting VOIP phone calls, suppressing spam, supporting social networking and information sharing.

At an event hosted by the Oxford Internet Institute and Afilias, held on January 28 at the Royal Society in London to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the invention of the DNS, Paul Mockapetris, chairman and chief scientist of Nominum and the man credited with inventing DNS in June 1983, shared his thoughts on the technology, how it came to be, its impact on the Internet and where it is headed in the years to come.

"The DNS is the database for Internet communication technology and with billions of people using it everyday and millions of companies and organizations with registered domain names, the technology is ubiquitous in the developed world, continues to spread around the globe, and has given us the flexibility to change the way we communicate," said Mockapetris. "As more people come online they need rapid, intuitive and safe DNS services that don't require technical expertise."