http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/14/1041990276155.html

Article below:

"Europe to get one more root name server"
January 14 2003

Espanix, a non-profit association composed of telecom enterprises in Spain,
and the Internet Software Consortium (ISC) have reached an agreement to
jointly develop, install and set up a Root Name Server for Europe based in
Madrid.

The new root server will be a replica of the server that currently operates
at ISC, the "F-root server" and will dramatically improve the strength and
integrity of the Internet infrastructure worldwide.

The agreement will strengthen the Domain Name System (DNS) by deploying
additional resources to handle growing Internet traffic and to disperse
malicious traffic directed at root servers. ISC chairman Paul Vixie said:
"Until now the 'root server' owned and managed by ISC was located in the US.
Even before the recent attacks on the root server system, we realised that
to fully serve the entire Internet community - and to defend against further
attacks - we needed our F-root name service to have a global footprint, with
mirrors in many countries. Espanix is a partner for this effort."

There are 13 "root name servers" worldwide - ten are located in the US, one
in Asia (Japan) and two in Europe (London and Stockholm).