The first step before anything on the net—opening TikTok, sending an e-mail message, or searching for puppy videos—your phone must find the computers it needs to use. This is where USC’s B-Root comes in. USC is one of 12 organizations that operates part of the DNS root, the “phone book” that provides access to .com and .io. B-Root operates from 6 locations around the world and is part of a global network of nearly 1,900 sites that provide this hidden but critical infrastructure.

Public Interest Registry, the nonprofit that operates the .ORG domain, awarded USC’s Information Sciences Institute, a unit of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, a generous gift in support of its broader public service and research mission related to B-Root. It’s the kind of partnership that makes sense: the organization that provides an online home to nonprofits and NGOs supporting the academic researchers who help keep the whole internet’s address book working.

When Your Job Is Answering 66,000 Questions Per Second

B-Root’s workload is staggering, fielding between 5 and 6 billion queries every single day—roughly 66,000 queries every second, from every country on Earth.

The Domain Name System (DNS for short) is essentially the internet’s phone book, translating website names humans can remember (like “reddit.com”) into the numerical IP addresses that computers actually use (like 192.2.0.1). Before DNS existed in 1983, people literally kept long text files filled with these names and numbers and they had to manually pass these files around.

Imagine having to type “216.35.221.77” every time you wanted to check NPR’s website.

Paul Mockapetris created the Domain Name System (DNS) in 1983 right here at USC ISI. He built the first software for the DNS, affectionately named “Jeeves,” in 1984. USC has been running B-Root, the second of the 13 root identities, since 1987—nearly 40 years of continuous service.

Why Academics Make Good Internet Stewards

What attracted PIR to USC’s operation? According to Rick Wilhelm, PIR’s Chief Technology Officer, it’s the combination of operational excellence and cutting-edge research. Long-time collaborator and former ISI employee, Suzanne Woolf, now at PIR, was also instrumental behind-the-scenes in bringing this to fruition.

“PIR recognized USC’s B-Root both for providing operational DNS service, serving the root DNS zone to all of the Internet, and for our role in carrying out research to move the root DNS in new directions, such as our use of TLS encryption and localroot for DNS privacy,” says John Heidemann, Chief Scientist for Networking and Cybersecurity at USC ISI and research professor for the Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science.

Case in point: encrypted DNS. Back in 2013, USC students started experimenting with ways to keep DNS queries private. Traditionally, DNS requests are sent in the clear, meaning that intermediaries on the network can see what websites a user is trying to reach, but allowing queries to be very simple and fast. Those early student projects showed that, with the right choices, encryption can provide reasonable performance. This work turned into standardized protocols through the Internet Engineering Task Force, in collaboration with industry partners.

By 2017, these standards were embraced by Google, Cloudflare, and others, and are now widely available in computers and mobile phones. In 2023, USC became the first root operator to offer encrypted DNS service for the DNS Root.

For everyday users, this work means stronger protections against surveillance and profiling, while preserving the speed and reliability people expect from the Internet.

“USC operates B-Root with a primary goal of providing public service for the Internet. However, our role as an academic research institution encourages us to leverage B-Root as a part of research to improve the Internet for its users,” Heidemann explains.

Graduate students can test their thesis research on replicas of a production Internet service, advancing both their degrees and the technology itself. With DNS operators “in house”, students can work with them to see their thesis work deployed in production.

The Internet Runs on Intentional Diversity

Here’s something most people don’t know: the internet’s root system is deliberately diverse. Twelve different organizations run the 13 root identities, each with very different setups: different hardware, software, physical locations, management structures, and funding models.

“A long-time principle of the Root Server System is that it is an operational service provided by 12 independent organizations, each operating with different infrastructure,” Heidemann notes. “This intentional diversity provides robustness, with variation in software, hardware, physical locations, but also management, governance, and financial support. PIR’s support reinforces USC’s longstanding independent stewardship of B-Root and contributes to this diversity and resilience.”

If everyone ran the same setup and something went catastrophically wrong, the entire internet’s addressing system could fail. But because everyone does things differently, when one approach hits problems, the others keep working. Monocultures are fragile. Diversity is resilient.

B-Root operates from six global locations: Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Miami, Santiago, Singapore, and Frankfurt. Together with the other root operators, these sites are part of nearly 1,900 locations worldwide that ensure the DNS remains accessible and resilient. Each location requires careful planning and resources.

And yes, B-Root gets attacked. “As a visible part of critical infrastructure, Root DNS services also draw attention of attackers and occasionally are subject to denial-of-service attacks,” Heidemann says.

Nonprofits Supporting the Infrastructure That Supports Nonprofits

PIR’s support isn’t just financial. “USC and PIR work closely together in a number of ways,” says Terry Benzel, Managing Director of ISI. “In addition to financial support of USC, PIR volunteers staff time to participate in B-Root operations, and beyond B-Root, USC and PIR collaborate on research in the security of the Internet naming ecosystem.”

For PIR, the alignment is natural. They operate .ORG, .CHARITY, .FOUNDATION, .GIVES, .GIVING, .NGO, and .ONG domains—the online home for organizations working to improve the world. “USC’s B-Root provides the DNS root zone as a public service to all Internet users,” Wilhelm says. “This service aligns with PIR’s mission to be an exemplary registry and as champions for a free and open Internet.”

“PIR’s gift will support USC’s broader efforts surrounding B-Root, including operations, research, and related activities,” Benzel adds. “This work recognizes the importance of USC running B-Root as a service for the good of the Internet, and it will help B-Root continue to operate that service securely and efficiently.”

The Best Infrastructure Is Invisible

These 12 organizations have kept the internet’s addressing system running for 40 years through determination and varied funding approaches, now operating nearly 1,900 locations worldwide. But as the internet becomes essential to everything from commerce to healthcare to democracy itself, ensuring this infrastructure stays funded, independent, and innovative requires serious attention.

With this investment from PIR, USC will keep pushing forward. The rest of us will keep typing website names instead of IP addresses into our browsers, blissfully unaware of the sophisticated infrastructure working behind the scenes.

For nearly four decades, USC has quietly carried that responsibility, combining public service, independent stewardship, and research to help ensure the Internet remains open, reliable, and trustworthy. USC ISI and PIR are working together to make sure we never have to think about it—including where to find those puppy videos.

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