.asia Domain Name Open for Business

Wednesday October 10 1:02 PM

After seven years in the making the new .asia domain name has now opened for registrations. NetNames, which manages the domain name portfolios for major global brands, is calling on US businesses with interests or plans in Asia to secure their .asia brands before competitors or cybersquatters can pounce.

Jonathan Robinson, chief operating officer, NetNames comments, "After years of talks and negotiations .asia is finally here and all the signs are that it will be in even higher demand than .eu. Companies with registered trademarks can apply at this stage, but need to beware of other organisations trading with the same brand names in different countries or industry that will have just as much of a claim to the same .asia domain names. Businesses need to ensure they get their valid applications in during the sunrise period to avoid missing out."

Sunrise applications for the new .asia domain name will be split over two time periods. The first began on 9 October 2007 when companies were invited to secure their registered trademarks.

The second period begins on 13 November 2007 when companies which have already secured their registered trademarks will be invited to secure additional domain names related specifically to their line of business (e.g. Nokia will also be able to register nokiatelecommunications.asia). At this time registered companies with an official, legal presence in Asia will also be able to secure their business or other legally recognized trading names.

The .asia domain name will then open to the general public in February 2008 when the most popular domain names will be auctioned off to the highest bidders. The first .asia domain names will go live in March 2008.

There are over 459 million Internet users in Asia compared to 338 million in Europe and 235 million in North America (source: Internet World Stats).

About NetNames

NetNames is part of London listed Group NBT plc (LSE: NBT). Through its industry leading domain name management service, NetNames Platinum Service, the company is responsible for managing and protecting online brands for international corporates, including in excess of 30% of the FTSE 100. Following the acquisition of Ascio Technologies in January 2007 NetNames became Europe's largest domain name management specialist.

NetNames is an ICANN Accredited Registrar with the ability to register domain names in all available suffixes worldwide. The company is headquartered in London, with offices in New York, Nice, Munich, Madrid, Copenhagen, Zurich and Oslo. For further information, visit www.netnames.com.

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