About nic.at
The Domain pulse 2011 in Vienna – Day 2
Friday, 18. February 2011
Yesterday, the Domain pulse, which is the most important event for current topics around domain names in the German-speaking area, started with a record attendance: some 400 interested people were following the expert discussions on current domain-related topics during two days at Palais Ferstel. This second day of the event was focusing on the latest tendencies on the web, including the new Top Level Domains. The central topic of this day: the planned introduction of new Top Level Domains.
The central topic of this day: the planned introduction of new Top Level Domains. The international domain administration ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), which is located in the USA, is currently working on the introduction of new Top Level Domains (TLDs). .wien, .salzburg (community Top Level Domain) or .shop (open or so-called generic Top Level Domain) etc. will become possible in the future.
In autumn 2011 the application window will presumably be opened for the application for new Top Level Domains, which will give everyone the possibility to register their own TLD. Richard Wein, CEO of nic.at, says: “We are currently advising some exciting initiatives on applying for their own Top Level Domains, among which there are cities and regions, as well as business initiatives and companies. With “registry-in-a-box” we are providing both the technological solution and the steering of the entire application process.” Further information is available at: http://www.nic.at/en/registry_in_a_box/en/produktinfo/
Top Level Domains offer numerous advantages for regions
Dirk Krischenowski, who is leading the .berlin initiative, was talking about the essential need of Top Level Domains for metropolises in the future: “Berlin is not only the biggest city of Germany, it is also a brand. Nowadays, there are more than 150,000 domains that include “Berlin” in their name, which clearly shows the rapid process of regionalisation on the Internet. The new Top Level Domain .berlin is a logical answer to the demand on the Internet”.
New initiatives: .versicherung, .reise, .hiv
During the course of the Domain pulse, concrete plans for new Top Level Domains were brought into discussion. Axel Schwiersch, CEO of dotversicherung and dotreise GmbH, introduced the plans for .versicherung and .reise. He described the background as follows: “With these new domain endings we can provide exclusive name spaces to the insurance and travelling industry, which they can use to present themselves individually to their customers. The terms “insurance” and “travel” are queried often in search engines. Due to the correlation between the search term and the TLD-part of the domain, domains ending with .reise and .versicherung will be quite on top of the search results. Moreover, the new domain endings signalize the consumer a clearly recognisable industry classification.”
In contrast, the charity initiative .hiv, which intends to use the new Top Level Domain as a means of fighting AIDS, is following a completely different vision. Project leader Tobias Mölder says: “We want to combat the most widespread virus in the world virally and in different ways – not only with a financial but also with a communicative approach. And the TLD .hiv combines both approaches.” Thus, the proceeds from domain registration and donations will go to global AIDS projects. “We are making use of the power of the Internet in order to raise interest and to create awareness “, Möller concludes.
Trends from a (different) domain world using the example of .il
In his subsequent speech Benny Lipsicas from the Israeli registry ISOC-IL was giving account of the great success of the recently introduced Hebrew domains below .il and reported on further challenges that will arise in the shaping of the WWW and new Top Level Domains: the consideration of different script types or styles, like Hebrew, which is written from right to left.
About the Domain pulse
In cooperation with DENIC (German registry) and SWITCH (Swiss and Liechtenstein registry), nic.at (Austrian registry) is heading the Domain pulse symposium for the third time in Vienna after 2005 and 2008. The next Domain pulse will take place in Essen, Germany, on 13 and 14 February 2012. Please find information about the Domain pulse 2011 and its speakers at: www.domainpulse.at 
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Questions to:
Richard Wein
CEO nic.at
Tel: 0662/4669-14
gf
nic.at 
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