The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has activated the first two of the recently authorised top-level domain names for the Internet - .biz and .info
The .biz and .info will at first be used for informational web sites and will be administed byNeuLevel,Inc. (www.neulevel.biz) and Afilias Limited (www.afilias.info).
General registration of names ending with .biz and .info will be available through over 90 registrars accredited by ICANN and it is expected that users will be able to access the TLD’s by Sepember.
"This is an historical milestone for the Internet community and for ICANN," M. Stuart Lynn, President and CEO of ICANN said in a statment issued over the weekend.
"It successfully benchmarks what has been a thoughtful community process over the past year." ICANN is responsible for coordinating the development of Internet policy for introducing new global TLDs."
Over the coming months, ICANN will evaluate the performance of these seven new top-level domains as a "proof of concept".
This evaluation will inform the ICANN Board of Directors to guide future steps. Besides technical performance, these evaluations will also address practical and administrative issues such as methods for providing adequate protection for trademark interests to inhibit cybersquatting.