I first thought of (NIC) as in Network Information Center... which is commonly used for Domain Registars names, i.e. InterNIC or DirectNIC. As this seems like

I first thought of (NIC) as in Network Information Center... which is commonly used for Domain Registars names, i.e. InterNIC or DirectNIC. As this seems like a service that's searching and storing information, I can see it kinda acting like DNS and this place being the registrar of information.