Best DNS structure for a global company?

[Ray Buschur]

I have just banged out a few quick thoughts that popped into my mind.  I am
sure others would have other points of consideration.  I have not given you
a recommendation, but things to consider.

It is my feeling that it will/should be driven by "company"'s business.  It
may sound funny, but I believe the best approach is to look at it from the
business side first, then make the technology support the business.

How "branded" is the company name?  If it is very branded then you will
probably get more mileage out of your single domain, if not either is
probably okay.

You should look at your customer base and how they access your services.
Are they country or regionally oriented, or are they more global in nature.
Regional customers would probably like to access your services, using the
local conventions, so company.de would be nice in Germany maybe.  Also, you
may have problems routing sales and support issues for international
customers, using the single domain concept, adding complexity to your
contact avoidance capability, which will mean that it may not be used as
much as "company" would like.  If the majority of your customers are
international, then probably either will work okay.

Is "company UK" really the same or different than "company US Many large
international companies...at least technology companies have different
companies (subsidiaries) that operate outside the US, and the parent company
only truly exists in the US.  If they are different use different domains,
make it simple for everyone.