: NETNATION COMMUNICATIONS INC - To Share In Registry For New Top-level Domain
Dot-Info
New York, New York, Nov. 20, 2000 (Market News Publishing via COMTEX) --
Extension to Become Operational in 2001 Along With Six Other Domains
NetNation Communications, Inc., a global, top-ranked web site hosting company,
domain name registrar (DNR) and application service provider (ASP), announced
that Afilias LLC, an international consortium including NetNation's wholly owned
subsidiary, DomainPeople, Inc., has been selected by the Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to operate .info - the first new
unrestricted top-level domain (TLD) to be created since .com. "The introduction
of new TLDs is a significant event for the Internet industry and is expected to
foster a new wave of growth," said Joseph Kibur, NetNation CEO. "Such growth
will further complement and increase demand for NetNation's complete line of
e-business solutions, as domain name registration is the first step in
establishing an online presence."
Afilias' proposal to operate a new TLD registry was one of 47 applications
submitted to ICANN on October 2, 2000. Following are the selected domains: *
.info - an unrestricted general extension; * .biz - an extension for commercial
businesses; * .name - an extension for individual persons; * .pro - an extension
for certified professionals and
professional entities; * .coop - an extension for cooperatives; * .museum - an
extension for museums; and * .aero - an extension for the air transport
industry.
The .info extension, which is in the same category as existing domains .com,
.net, and .org, is the first new unrestricted TLD awarded by ICANN. Unrestricted
top level domains are invariably more popular as their use is not subject to any
restrictions in terms of who may apply for a domain or its use. "Afilias is
confident that .info will be widely used because of its international appeal and
relevance," said Richard Lindsay, Chairman of the Afilias Board of Directors.
"We believe .info will satisfy pent up demand for a non-U.S. centric top-level
domain. Afilias' range of experience and globally-diverse market representation
will enable it to position .info as a strong competitor to .com on an
international level."
There are approximately 22 million registered domains, with .com accounting for
about 80% of the market. Over the next three years, industry estimates expect
that registrations will rise to between 130 million and 150 million names.
Registrations of the new domains are expected to begin in 2001.
About NetNation Communications, Inc. NetNation Communications, Inc.
(http://www.netnation.com) is a global, top-ranked web site hosting company,
domain name registrar (DNR) and application service/infrastructure provider
(ASP/AIP) with clients in more than 130 countries. Since inception in February
1997, NetNation (Nasdaq: NNCI) has been consistently ranked among the top 10 web
hosting companies in the world by leading industry evaluators. Its wholly owned
subsidiary, DomainPeople, Inc. (http://www.domainpeople.com) is an ICANN
accredited and operational registrar of Internet domain names. NetNation has
strategic alliances with Cobalt Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: COBT), GT Group Telecom
(Nasdaq: GTTLB, TSE: GTG.B), SmartAge.com, and MasterCard International. At the
forefront of the Internet revolution, NetNation is well known for its complete
product line, outstanding 24/7 customer support and creative Internet business
solutions. NetNation has offices in Vancouver, BC, San Diego, CA, and London,
England. NetNation is a trademark of NetNation Communications, Inc. DomainPeople
and DomainPeople.com are trademarks of DomainPeople Inc.
About Afilias Formed in September 2000, Afilias is a limited liability company
comprised of nineteen ICANN-accredited domain name registrars located around the
world. In the aggregate, the company's member registrars registered more than 10
million domain names in their last fiscal year. In addition to their strong
position in the domain name registration market for the .com, .net, and .org top
level domains, the member registrars collectively offer a wide range of related
Internet services, including country-code domain name registrations,
country-code registry operations, Web hosting, and ISP services. Afilias' member
registrars provide their services on a global basis with 65% having offices in
North America, 53% in Europe, 26% in Asia and the Pacific Rim, 5% in Australia,
and 5% in the Middle East, some having offices in more than one region.
Afilias' member registrars include: 1stDomain.net, a division of G+D
International LLC; Corporate Domains, Inc.; Domain Bank, Inc.; DomainInfo AB;
DomainPeople, Inc.; Domain Registration Services; Enter-Price Multimedia AG
(EPAG); Internet Council of Registrars (CORE); interQ, Inc.; NameSecure.com,
Inc.; Netnames International Ltd; Network Solutions, Inc., a VeriSign company
(Nasdaq: VRSN), Registrar Operations; Polar Software Ltd. d/b/a Signdomains.com;
Procurement Services International (Japan), Inc.; Register.com (Nasdaq: RCOM);
Schlund + Partner AG; Sitename; Speednames, Inc.; Tucows, Inc. For more
information about Afilias, please visit the Afilias web site at
afilias.com available in multiple languages. "Safe Harbor" statement
under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: In this news
release, the words "will", "expected" and similar conditional or future-oriented
expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements
are inherently subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those reflected in such forward-looking
statements.
-0-
TEL: 888 277 0000 Ext. 133 John Gomez, Investor Relations
TEL: 888 277 0000 Ext. 133 John Gomez, Investor Relation
E-mail: gomez@netnation.com
TEL: 888 277 0000 Ext. 216 Phebe Chan, Media Relations
E-mail: phebec@netnation.com |
