New.net Offers Market-based Solution to TLD Expansion
 
By Kathleen Murphy

In an end run around the red tape created by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, an Idealab-backed startup began offering alternative top-level domain names (TLDs) Monday.

Directly challenging the authority of ICANN, which is the nonprofit body chosen by the U.S. government to oversee Web addresses, New.net said it is releasing 20 new TLDs, including .shop, .mp3, .inc, .kids, .sport, .family, .chat, .video, .club, .hola, .soc, .med, .law, .travel, .game, .free, .ltd, .gmbh, .tech, and .xxx.

New.net is selling domain names in the 20 strings on a first-come, first-served basis for a $25 annual fee. Buyers in the .kids TLD, operated in partnership with .KIDS Domains (a rejected applicant in the ICANN TLD-selection process), must offer "kid-friendly content," and the company reserves the right to revoke names that it believes aren't used accordingly.

The company announced strategic relationships with Internet service providers including EarthLink, Excite@Home, and NetZero. MP3.com will be the exclusive third-party seller of .mp3 domain names. New.net also partnered with UltraDNS to provide global domain name system (DNS) services.

"This new naming system ultimately will be turned on by ISPs all over the world," said David Hernand, CEO of New.net. "Already this morning, we're getting calls from other ISPs that want to turn us on, so we think it's just a matter of time before all ISPs choose to recognize our names to give their users that benefit."

While fighting the uphill battle of achieving recognition by ISPs, New.net also will allow Windows users to gain access through their browsers via a plug-in. Whether on an individual browser level via the New.net plug-in, or through software resident on a participating ISP's server, requests to display Web pages with New.net domain names are resolved by appending the additional extension .new.net onto the address. As a result, requests are automatically routed to New.net's DNS servers to determine the correct IP address of the computer hosting the Web page. New.net is not exactly creating a new root; its system rides on top of the existing DNS.

"We don't see our business as running in conflict with ICANN, rather, we think of this as a supplement to what ICANN has done thus far," Hernand said. "We are a market-based solution to the naming system in contrast with a political-based solution specifically relating to names that has moved slowly. We hope to move quickly into this space to provide consumers the names that they want now."