IO Design Comments on ICANN Top Level Domains
Jay Fenello
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Image Online Design Comments on ICANN Top Level Domains
SAN LUIS OBISPO, March 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Image Online Design, Inc., the .Web
Internet Domain Registry (tm) today expressed cautious optimism at the recent
report presented to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN) at its meeting in Cairo, Egypt. The report, presented by ICANN's
Working Group on new top-level domains, presented consensus that ICANN should
create six to ten new top-level domains (TLDs) as an initial test of
competition
for Network Solution's (NSOL) .com registry.
"This is certainly a step forward," said John Frangie, CEO of Image Online
Design, Inc., "We have been working with the Internet community for over four
years now to introduce new top-level domains, and this is the first real
progress we've seen in a very long time."
Image Online Design has seen the entire history of this debate unfold over the
years, from 1995, when it first proposed creating its .web registry, through
1996, when the Internet Assigned Numbering Authority (IANA) gave the
go-ahead to
create the registry as a proof-of-concept, prior to being made available to the
Internet as a whole. Image Online Design has been providing domain name
services for .Web for a segment of the Internet Community since 1996. "Perhaps
this time we'll get the governance issue right," said Christopher Ambler,
founder of Image Online Design, "and I look forward to seeing our .Web registry
expanded to the whole of the Internet, along with other pioneering registries,
in this first group."
The selection criteria for the first group has yet to be determined, but Dr.
Milton Mueller, Associate Professor at Syracuse University School of
Information
Studies and a member of ICANN's working group on new TLDs, said "If ICANN is
serious about ending the domain name wars, its policies should not ignore or
foreclose legitimate domain name registries that have already been
operating new
TLDs. Rather, ICANN should cooperate and coordinate with them to resolve
naming
conflicts and incorporate them into the new regime."
ICANN has committed to moving forward on this issue at their next meeting,
scheduled to be held this July in Japan. Image Online Design has pledged to
assist the process in any way it can, and hopes that the initial timetable of
adding the new registries by the end of the year can be met. "This is a
complicated issue, and we acknowledge the need to be careful, but the ongoing
delays have caused considerable difficulties for pioneering registries," added
Frangie, noting, "I see no reason to delay any further when we are ready (and
have been for over four years) to proceed with this testing phase."
The .Web Internet Domain Registry may currently be found at http://webtld.com.
Once .Web is available to the Internet, the registry will be located at
http://nic.web. Registrations are currently being taken for .Web domains. See
the Frequently Asked Questions section of the web site for more details.
ABOUT IMAGE ONLINE DESIGN
Image Online Design, Inc. was founded in 1995, and provides Internet
consulting,
domain name registration, and web design. Founded in 1996, the .Web Internet
Domain Registry(tm) is the longest-standing new domain registry. Competing
directly with Network Solutions (Nasdaq: NSOL) .com registry, the .Web registry
currently has registrations from over 70 countries worldwide.
Respectfully,
Jay Fenello,
New Media Relations
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http://www.fenello.com 770-392-9480
Aligning with Purpose(sm) ... for a Better World
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