| BERNICE HAN |
Published: 2011/06/20 07:31:45 AM |
THE internet is poised for potentially one of its biggest shake-ups in years as an industry body prepares to vote today on a proposal to open up new domain suffixes for private companies.
Under the changes to be decided at a meeting in Singapore, businesses would no longer be restricted to the list of generic top-level domains (gTLDs) that include .com, .net and .org when they apply to register a website address.
Industry observers say global giants such as Apple, Toyota and BMW could be in the vanguard of launching websites with their own domain names.
"New gTLDs represent one of the biggest changes to the internet since its inception," says Michele Jourdan, communications manager for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
"While they won’t have a technical impact on the way the internet operates, they could potentially change the way people find information and how businesses plan and structure their online presence," she says.
ICANN, a nonprofit body managing the domain name system and internet protocol addresses that form the technical backbone of the web, is holding a six-day global meeting in Singapore to discuss a range of matters.
Its board will vote today on whether to proceed with the new gTLD programme, and an ICANN source says approval is expected.
"Corporations may choose to apply for their own domain, offering them new possibilities for structuring their online and offline presence," Ms Jourdan says.
"They may also offer corporations better brand control. Additionally, entirely new domains may come into existence that bring about new commercial opportunities."
But it will not come cheap.
It will cost a company $185000 just to apply and there are a number of criteria that must be met before ICANN will give the nod for a company to own the domain name of its choice.
The fee is needed to recoup the costs associated with the new gTLD programme and to ensure that it is fully funded, ICANN says. It would also weed out opportunistic applicants seeking to resell domain names for a profit after buying them cheaply, a problem in the earlier days of the internet.
Adrian Kinderis, a Melbourne-based domain name expert, says big companies will have an opportunity to protect their trademarks in cyberspace if ICANN votes in favour of opening up the domain gates.
"The new programme gives trademark holders an opportunity to go in first and secure their brand.
"If they don’t have a legitimate trademark for it, then they don’t get it. That’s why it is better."
The proposed new gTLD programme also offers companies the opportunity to beef up their digital marketing campaigns, says Mr Kinderis, who sits on one of ICANN’s advisory boards. "This is not just about going out to get a domain name," he says. "You are actually getting an important part of the internet real estate; it’s the digital opportunity to build your message."
A Singapore-based branding expert, Graham Hitchmough, says companies will have a lot more leeway to reach out to their target audience if the new domain names are approved.
"It allows them an opportunity to articulate their brand and range of products in a more clear and consistent way," says Mr Hitchmough, MD at global agency Brand Union. Sapa-AFP
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