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Internet top domains to expand

The internet is set for one of its most significant changes in years, after the global governing body for domain names approved a major expansion

The internet is set for one of its most significant changes in years, after the global governing body for domain names approved a major expansion.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) on Monday approved the expansion of domain names beyond ".com" to ".anything".

Top-level domains, which include .com, .net and org, will be expanded to include new brand, generic and geographic domain name extensions - such as .shop, .sydney, .apple, .bhp or .nab, for example.

Domain name management provider Melbourne IT Ltd said the expansion represented a big change.

"It's significant for the whole internet community," Melbourne IT chief executive Theo Hnarakis said.

He said companies, community groups and cities would be able to apply for their name as a top-level domain.

"For corporations, it will change the way they operate and how they build their brands in the future on the internet," he said. "For consumers, it will change the way they navigate the internet.

"It's a profound change. We can't even today imagine the different business models that will start emerging over the next 12 to 18 months."

Mr Hnarakis said as an example, if internet users currently typed "Ford Mustang" into a search engine, they would probably get results throwing up dozens of dealerships, collectors and the Ford Motor Company.

But if they typed "mustang.ford" as a direct navigation, the search engine would theoretically take them directly to the relevant Ford website.

Companies could also have shorter domains, which would be significant in terms of marketing and advertising.

For example, www.apple.com/ipad could become ipad.apple.

The domains would be easier to control, have a higher level of security and be more trustworthy.

Small businesses could also take part, for example, by joining to the .sydney domain.

The domain joesplumbing.com, which could throw up hundreds of results, could become joesplumbing.sydney, which would be more relevant to a resident of Sydney.

Mr Hnarakis said obtaining a new top-level domain would not be cheap, costing $US185,000 ($A175,380) just to apply to ICANN.

The new domains would also incur a $US25,000 annual licence fee to ICANN.

On top of that, there would be technical costs and management fees to pay, which could amount to a couple of hundred thousand dollars.

Melbourne IT shares were up five cents, or 2.9 per cent, at $1.775 on Monday, outperforming the general market, which was down almost one per cent.

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: Ford Motor, ICANN, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, Melbourne IT, NN

Comments

1

David Chiles

Tue 21/06/2011 - 17:03

The new names are a good idea but the cost is too high.

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