 | |
| Type | Nonprofit organization |
|---|---|
| Legal status | Stichting |
| Purpose | Free Software Network Research and Development in the Domain of Internet technology |
| Headquarters | Amsterdam Science Park |
Region served | Worldwide |
| Website | nlnet |
The NLnet Foundation supports organizations and people that contribute to an open information society. It was influential in spreading the Internet throughout Europe in the 1980s. In 1997, the foundation sold off its commercial networking operations to UUNET (now part of Verizon), resulting in an endowment with which it makes grants.
NLnet is known for sponsoring open source software and standards work as well as auxiliary activities. Some of the projects that NLnet supports or has supported are Mastodon[1], Peertube[2], Galene[3], Wireguard[4], DNSSEC[5][6], the ODF plugfest[7], the GPL V3 license drafting process[8], Tor anonymity network[9], Namecoin[10] Jitsi[11], nftables[12] and Mobilizon[13].
History
editNLnet's history started in April 1982 with the announcement by Teus Hagen as chairman of a major initiative by the European Unix Users Group (EUUG) to develop and provide network services in Europe under the name EUnet. NLnet was the main node of the EUnet[14] operating out of the Netherlands national center for mathematics and computer science CWI, and played a vital role in spreading first UUCP[15] and later the ARPAnet throughout Europe,[16] earning Hagen and other pioneers a place in the Internet Hall of Fame. NLnet also pioneered the world's first dial-in and ISDN infrastructure with full country coverage[17] by using the signal wiring[18][19] from the Netherlands rail system owned by Nederlandse Spoorwegen. NLnet was one of the founders of the AMS-ix[20] foundation and the .nl registry SIDN.[21]
Stichting NLnet was formally established as a Stichting (Dutch for foundation) in February 1989. In November 1994 Stichting NLnet created NLnet BV (a Dutch Limited liability corporation or BV) as a commercial operating subsidiary and so incorporated the first Internet service provider in The Netherlands. In 1997 the Internet provision services company was acquired by UUnet,[22] which had just become a subsidiary of MFS.[23] MFS was acquired shortly thereafter by Worldcom,[24] which then initiated a takeover bid on MCI and later became a subsidiary of Verizon.
The acquisition provided Stichting NLnet with an endowment to transform into a grant-making organization, funding the development of Internet network technology and associated Computer Sciences research and development. The foundation is a recognized public benefit organization (in Dutch ANBI) and runs an open call where anyone in the world can submit proposals to improve the Internet,[25] as well as several thematic funds[26] such as the Internet Hardening Fund.[27] An overview of current and past NLNET-funded projects can be found on the NLnet website.[28] Results are made freely available to the community in the broadest sense, typically under FOSS licenses and through Internet standards, web standards and the like.
In 1999, NLNet founded NLnet Labs, a network research laboratory in Amsterdam. NLNet Labs develops DNS-related software, such as NSD, Unbound, OpenDNSSEC, getDNS as well as BGP related tooling such as Rotonda[29] and Krill.[30]
References
edit- ^ "NLnet; Mastodon - groups, filtering, moderation". nlnet.nl. Retrieved 2025-08-25.
- ^ "NLnet; PeerTube". nlnet.nl. Retrieved 2025-08-25.
- ^ "NLnet; Galene". nlnet.nl. Retrieved 2025-08-25.
- ^ "NLnet; WireGuard". nlnet.nl. Retrieved 2025-08-25.
- ^ "NLnet; DNS Security Fund". nlnet.nl. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
- ^ Internet Journal DNSSEC Fund Announced
- ^ "ODF plugfest homepage". www.odfplugfest.org. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
- ^ "GPL Version 3 Development and Publicity Project (GPLv3) — Free Software Foundation — Working together for free software". www.fsf.org. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
- ^ "The NLnet Foundation funds two projects | Tor Project". blog.torproject.org. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
- ^ "Namecoin Receives Funding from NLnet Foundation's Internet Hardening Fund". www.namecoin.org. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
- ^ "NLnet; Jitsi". nlnet.nl. Retrieved 2025-08-25.
- ^ "netfilter/iptables project homepage - About the netfilter/iptables project". netfilter.org. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
- ^ "NLnet; Mobilizon". nlnet.nl. Retrieved 2026-03-23.
- ^ "The start of EUnet". godfatherof.nl. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
- ^ Hauben, Michael; Hauben, Ronda (1998-08-03). "On the Early Days of Usenet: The Roots of the Cooperative Online Culture. (Chapter 10)". First Monday. doi:10.5210/fm.v3i8.613. ISSN 1396-0466.
- ^ "EUnet, European Network". LivingInternet. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
- ^ "Teus Hagen". Internet Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
- ^ Netkwesties: 25 jaar internet in Nederland
- ^ "Breaking Rules to Break Ground in Global Internet's Earliest Days". Internet Hall of Fame. 2016-12-10. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
- ^ AMS-ix.nl: AMS-ix historical timeline
- ^ SIDN.nl Annual report Stichting Internet Domeinnaamregistratie
- ^ "UUnet Technologies Acquires NLnet of The Netherlands". The New York Times. 1997-09-04. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
- ^ Lewis, Peter H. (1996-05-01). "Uunet and MFS Plan to Merge As Internet Meets Fiber Optics". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
- ^ "MFS WorldCom merger". www.verizon.com. Archived from the original on 2025-05-17. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
- ^ "NLnet; What NLnet can do for you". nlnet.nl. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
- ^ NLnet website: Areas of special interest
- ^ "NLnet; Internet Hardening Fund". nlnet.nl. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
- ^ "NLnet; All projects". nlnet.nl. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
- ^ "Routing Tools - Rotonda". NLnet Labs. Retrieved 2025-08-25.
- ^ "Routing Tools - Krill". NLnet Labs. Retrieved 2025-08-25.
