Roll out of .info and .biz top-level domain suffixes begins

IDG News Service - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has approved plans for the .biz and .info top-level domain suffixes, and registration for at least one of them will start later this month, the Internet overseeing body said Tuesday.

The 19-member ICANN board last week gave the approval for ICANN President and CEO Stuart Lynn to authorize the two top-level domain registries, said ICANN press contact Brett LaGrande. The new top-level domains are the first since the mid-1980s and will join .com, .org, .net, .edu, .gov, .mil and a host of country-code suffixes.

ICANN last November decided to roll out seven new top-level domains -- .biz, .info, .name, .pro, .aero, .museum and .coop. It's still unclear when the other five domain name suffixes will hit the Web. LaGrande said.

The .biz top-level domains will be restricted to commercial or business purposes. NeuLevel Inc., in Sterling, Va., will be the holder of the registry for .biz, according to ICANN. NeuLevel, according to its Web site, is expected to begin allowing businesses and corporations to start claiming .biz domain names later this month. Addresses that are awarded will become active in October, the company said. NeuLevel is a partnership between Neustar Inc. and Melbourne IT Ltd.

The .info domain, meanwhile, will be an unrestricted top-level domain open to any business or individual user to register for any purpose, ICANN said. Afilias Ltd. in Dublin will be the holder of the .info registry, and Internet users can expect .info domain names in use as early as August. Companies with trademarks registered prior to Oct. 2, 2000, will be able to begin registering .info domain names in late June with registrars.

Afilias will charge registrars $5.75 for each .info domain name, according to an Afilias spokeswoman. For the end user, it's expected that a .info domain name will cost about $35, comparable to what a .com domain costs now, she said.

Pricing information on .biz domain names couldn't be immediately gained from NeuLevel.

Related stories:

• ICANN Warns Against Preregistering Domain Names, April 2, 2001



• ACLU calls for public hearings on new top-level domains, Jan. 19, 2001



• ICANN board votes to add seven new Internet domains, Nov. 17, 2000



• ICANN gets pitches for new top-level domains, Oct. 4, 2000