New domain name lineup posted
AOL leads a group of five organizations that will compete to register Internet domains.
By Will Rodger, Inter@ctive Week Online
April 21, 1999 8:01 AM PT
A group of telecom and Internet interests today said they will offer Internet address registration services in competition with Network Solutions Inc. beginning this June.
Before authentic competition begins this June, five separate groups will run a "testbed" with Network Solutions Inc. (Nasdaq:NSOL) to assure that as customers purchase their own domains such as zd.com and interactiveweek.com, all registrars will know the transaction has taken place simultaneously.
America Online Inc. (NYSE:AOL), France Telecom S.A.'s Oleane Internet service, Melbourne, Australia's Melbourne IT, Register.com of New York and the Geneva-based Council of Registrars will launch the testbed April 26. Beginning June 24, 29 more companies already approved by ICANN are expected to join the fray.
R E A D
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Test Domains Proposed
Monopoly ending for domain names
The announcement marks the first major milestone in the process of privatizing a process which has functioned as a government sanctioned monopoly since the early 1990s. It also paves the way for greater self-governance by operators and users of a system which thus far has resisted most attempts to force it under governmental control.
Esther Dyson, Chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers which negotiated with the US Commerce Department to arrive at many terms of the planned transfer, drew on another historic precedent to describe the sharing arrangement behind Internet domains .com, .net and .org.
"What we have here is one small step for three domains, one giant leap for domainkind," she said.
More information to follow.
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