[ga] New.net

[Sotiris <sotiris@hermesnetwork.com>]

There's some more news from the New.net frontier, for those who have not
heard yet:

http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/0,1643,500471624-500722559-504046838-0,00.html

"New.net's new deals will promote unsanctioned Internet addresses

By ANICK JESDANUN, Associated Press

NEW YORK (April 8, 2001 12:59 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - A
startup that sells unsanctioned Internet domain names has reached deals
with five software companies to promote the use of such Web address
suffixes as ".kids" and ".travel."

New.net Inc. expects the deals will let more than 20 million additional
Internet users reach sites using those names. Currently, the company
said, about 16 million users could view those sites through EarthLink
Inc. and other service providers.

The new deals, expected to be announced Monday, involve the software
companies packaging their products with a New.net browser plug-in that
could recognize the unsanctioned sites.

Without the plug-in or a service provider that has activated the names,
Web users would get an error message when they try to reach a site like
bio.tech.

The deals were reached with makers of file-download manager GoZilla and
file-sharing products iMesh and BearShare. The three are among the 10
most popular free programs as tracked by Download.com.

New.net will also package its plug-in with software from Cydoor
Technologies Inc. and a fifth company it would not disclose.

Dan Sheehy, vice president of business development for New.net, said
installing the plug-in would be optional when users get new or upgraded
versions of those software packages.

New.net's efforts represent one of the most aggressive attempts to defy
the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the
organization designated by  the U.S. government to coordinate Internet
addresses.

Although other unsanctioned suffixes exist, none are backed by a group
with the apparent economic clout of New.net, a Pasadena, Calif., company
whose investors include Bill Gross of the dot-com incubator idealab!

ICANN officials, however, have largely ignored New.net's efforts, saying
the organization's authority is limited to the naming system sanctioned
by the government and recognized by the majority of the world's Internet
users.

On that front, ICANN is nearing completion of contracts that would add
seven new domain names later this year: ".info" for information, ".biz"
for businesses, ".name" for individuals, ".pro" for professionals,
".museum" for museums, ".coop" for business cooperatives and ".aero" for
the aviation industry.

To handle about 20 new suffixes, New.net created a separate set of root
servers, or master directories. The plug-in or cooperating service
provider would know to check those servers instead of ICANN's to find
any unsanctioned sites.
http://www.nandotimes.com/technology/story/0,1643,500471624-500722559-504046838-0,00.html




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