To have access to the services and products and information of companies and individuals on the Internet, you require the unique domain name of that entity/individual. On the Internet, you have to type an address into your computer - a name or a number. When typing a name, that name must be first translated into a number by a system before the connection can be established. That system is called the Domain Name System (DNS) and it translates names like www.icann.org into the numbers – called Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.  The Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has the responsibility to ensure the uniqueness of these identifiers across the world. Without that coordination, one global Internet cannot exist. ICANN ensures that all the addresses are unique.

The DNS translates domain names that humans can remember into the numbers used by computers to look up its destination (a little like a phone book is used to look-up a phone number). It does this in stages. The first place it 'looks' is the top level of the directory service - or "root zone". So to use www.nira.org.ng as an example, your computer 'asks' the root zone directory (or top level)  “.”  where to find information on ".ng". After it gets a response, it then asks the ".ng" directory service identified by the root where to find information on “.org.ng”  (the second level). At the third level, it looks for nira.org.ng and finally asking the nira.org.ng directory service identified by ".ng" what the address for www.nira.org.ng is (the third level). This process is very fast and looks as if it is almost instantaneous – the full address is provided to your computer.