Special addresses: Websites get new names

You can now add .abudhabi and .dubai to your Internet lexicon. The internet regulator Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) on Wednesday took the wrapping off new domain names that will expand the internet beyond the existing domains, such as .com, .org and .net. Both emirates have submitted their applications along with etisalat (.etisalat). Abu Dhabi and etisalat will also have Arabic version of their names as UAE organisations picked up 46 domains. “It’s going to make the internet more approachable,” Icann’s CEO Rod Beckstrom told Gulf News from London via remote access. Icann received 1,930 proposals for 1,410 different internet suffixes. Companies will be able to keep their existing .com names. The price to apply for a new generic top-level domain (gTLD) was $185,000, with an annual fee of $25,000, although experts estimate each name costs around $1 million to set up. Icann expects the first batch of new gTLDs to be operational in the beginning of next year. Investment The Dubai-headquartered Directi Group has invested around $30 million (Dh110 million) for the application of 41 domain strings, which includes several generic and mass market names. “We have invested significant resources to developing intelligent, responsible, secure and thorough proposals for what could serve as the foundation for this new era on the Internet,” said Bhavin Turakhia, founder and CEO of Directi Group. Top extensions on Directi’s list of applications include: .web, .bank, .loans, .insurance, .law, .shop, .app, .website, .click, .online, .music, .hotel .doctor, .baby and .shop. However, those domains could still be challenged. “The public will have 60 days to comment on the proposals. Someone can claim a trademark violation or argue that a proposed suffix is offensive. Companies and organisations will have seven-month objection period,” Kurt Pritz, Senior Vice-President of Icann, said. What is ICANN? The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a non-profit private organisation headquartered in US, to oversee a number of internet-related tasks previously performed directly on behalf of the US government by other organisations, notably the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), which ICANN now operates. ICANN is responsible for the coordination of the global internet\'s systems of unique identifiers and, in particular, ensuring its stable and secure operation. This work includes coordination of the internet protocol address spaces (IPv4 and IPv6) and assignment of address blocks to regional internet registries, for maintaining registries of Internet protocol identifiers, and for the management of the top-level domain name space. Most visibly, much of its work has concerned the DNS policy development for internationalisation of the DNS system and introduction of new generic top-level domains (TLDs). Before the establishment of ICANN, the US government controlled the domain name system of the internet. What is gTLD? A generic top-level domain (gTLD) is one of the categories of top-level domains (TLDs) maintained by the IANA for use in the domain name system of the internet. The core group of generic top-level domains consists of the com, info, net and org domains. In addition, the domains biz, name and pro are also considered generic; however, these are designated as restricted, because registrations within them require proof of eligibility within the guidelines set for each. Historically, the group of generic top-level domains included domains, created in the early development of the domain name system, that are now sponsored by designated agencies or organizations and are restricted to specific types of registrants. Thus, domains edu, gov, int and mil are now considered sponsored top-level domains, much like the many newly created themed domain names (e.g., jobs). The entire group of domains that do not have a geographic or country designation is still often referred to by the term generic TLDs. Companies and organisations will be able to choose essentially arbitrary top-level internet domains. The use of non-Latin characters (such as Cyrillic, Arabic, Chinese, etc.) is allowed in gTLDs. From gulfnews