North Rhine-Westphalia is Germany's most populous region, with almost 18 million inhabitants and in 2010 generated 21.7% of Germany's gross domestic product, making it the single largest economic region in Germany (source: IT.NRW). The cities of Dusseldorf, Cologne, Dortmund and Essen all lie within North Rhine-Westphalia.The Directors of Top Level Domain Holdings Limited (AIM:TLDH.L), a publicly traded company focused exclusively on acquiring and operating new generic top-level domains ("TLDs"), announced today that Minds + Machines GmbH, its majority owned registry services business, has been appointed by the German state of Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia) to manage the dot NRW top level domain application and the ongoing management of the dot NRW domain.

North Rhine-Westphalia is Germany's most populous region, with almost 18 million inhabitants and in 2010 generated 21.7% of Germany's gross domestic product, making it the single largest economic region in Germany (source: IT.NRW). The cities of Dusseldorf, Cologne, Dortmund and Essen all lie within North Rhine-Westphalia.

The technical back-end for the dot NRW domain has been sub-contracted by Minds + Machines GmbH to Knipp Medien und Kommunikation GmbH, an experienced domain services company based in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Peter Dengate Thrush, Chairman of TLDH, commented: "We are delighted to have secured this appointment and to be working with Knipp Medien und Kommunikation GmbH and the state of North Rhine-Westphaliain the future running of the domain. We believe new generic top level domains can provide an important mechanism for strengthening the cultural identity of a region online."

Top Level Domain Holdings has now announced geographic and generic gTLD appointments in Germany, India, Africa (.zulu), and New Zealand (.kiwi).