.be – country code top-level domain (ccTLD)

.be is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Belgium.
The domain became active in 1989 and was administrated by Pierre Verbaeten of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. In 2000, the control of the TLD was transferred to DNS Belgium. The .be country-code top-level domain name (ccTLD) is an extension representing Belgium. For companies that conduct business in that country and individuals who want to reach the growing number of Internet users there, .be domain names are a good investment. Registering a .be domain name gives you regional recognition and an easy-to-manage Web presence.

As of early 2012 there are 1,253,040 domains that are registeredIt was announced in November 2005 that the initial registration of domains would be free until the beginning of 2006, though with some limits on the number any individual was allowed to register. This was remarkably popular, with some 17,000 registrations coming in on the first day of the promotion.Domain names are registered directly at second level.

Some of Belgian’s main academic institutions, such as the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the Université Libre de Bruxelles, use third-level names under ac.be, but others have abandoned its use (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Universiteit Gent and Université Catholique de Louvain).

Examples/Hacks
On the website YouTube, a shortener for YouTube videos is youtu.be, for example www.youtube.com/watch?v=CODE become youtu.be/CODE.