Private company New.net Inc. will announce plans later Monday to offer a series of new Internet TLDs (top level domains), from .chat to .xxx, in a process calculated to sidestep the monopoly control of nonprofit organization ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) on such domains, the company said in a statement.
New.net seeks to offer a “market-based approach to satisfying the growing public demand for shorter, more descriptive domain names,” the company said in a “statement of principles” posted on its Web site. The company added that its TLDs will exist side-by-side with the familiar TLDs such as .com, .net, .org, and .edu, sanctioned by ICANN, adding that it will cooperate with ICANN and will “use existing domain name system infrastructure for resolving domain name address queries.”
Users will have to download special software to enable their browsers to access the New.net domain names, though the company said that it is also working with ISPs (Internet service providers) to encourage them to activate the names automatically at the network level. The company claimed over 16 million users have access to its names, and added, “we are confident that New.net domain names will soon be recognized universally across the Internet.”
New.net offers companies, via its site, the possibility to register domain names using 20 new TLDs, including .chat, .club, .family, .free, .game, .gmbh, .hola, .inc, .kids, .law, .ltd, .med, .mp3, shop, .soc, .sport, .travel, .video, .tech, and .xxx. The TLDs were chosen by means of market research, New.net said, and the company will continue to introduce new TLDs according to the demands of Internet users. The site promises name registration for US$25 per year.
In November, ICANN chose seven new TLDs to relieve overcrowding of the .com and .net domains. ICANN said it would offer .biz for businesses; .info for general use; .name for individuals; .pro for professionals; .museum for museums; .coop for business cooperatives, and .aero for the aviation industry, but did not fix a date when registrations would begin.
New.net, in Pasadena, Calif., can be reached at http://www.new.net/. ICANN, in Marina del Rey, Calif, is at http://www.icann.org.