New domain names afoot
The Internet Council of Registrars unveils plans to compete with the InterNIC and to allow Netizens to sign up for seven new top-level domain names by March 1998.
At first blush, the plan sounds straightforward. But when it comes to domain name issues, things are rarely simple, and this case is no exception. Despite the confidence of the planners, it's still not clear whether they have the clout to pull it off.
Interim Policy Oversight Committee (IPOC) has been working on an alternate system that would compete with Network Solutions.
Today, the Internet Council of Registrars (CORE), born out of IPOC, outlined plans to introduce seven new top-level domain names: ".arts," ".firm", ".info," ".nom," ".rec," ".shop," and ".web." Emergent Corporation, a United States-based company, has signed a contract to develop and operate a new Internet Domain Names Shared Registry system.
The idea behind the new registry is to bring competition to the domain name system. Currently, Network Solutions has a contract with the National Science Foundation until March 1998 to run the registry of the most popular top-level domains, such as ".com," ".edu," and ".net."
And therein lies the heart of the matter.
Getting included in that server is not simply a matter of making a request.
"That's the million-dollar question," said Jay Fenello, president of Iperdome, a company also involved in the domain name game.
At least one company, PGMedia, has sued for the right to have its domain names included in the server.
"We don't add anything without a directive from the National Science Foundation," said Clough.