On Wednesday, comedian Dana Carvey will be leading the celebration in San Francisco City Hall to mark the 25 year anniversary of the first ".com" web address.

The gala event is organized by Verisign, which runs the registry of web site names and also the root servers that direct all Internet traffic to the right web address.

(Verisign recently sold its security business to Symantec for $1,28 billion)

Verisign will use the event to announce four research grants of $75,000 "to assist those with the promise to shape the next 25 years of .com. These grants will be awarded later in the year by geography, one for each North America, Europe, Asia and India."

A panel of judges has selected 75 businesses deemed ".com25 honorees" of which 25 will be selected as the ".com 25."

I'll be reporting from the event.