Issue 122 - 26th June

.com.es soon to be released

The Spanish Domain Name Registry will be relaxing their registration requirements and releasing five new second level suffixes, .com.es, .org.es, .nom.es, .gob.es and .edu.es. Previously domains could only be registered directly under the suffix .es and Spain has historically been one of the most difficult countries to register domain names in.

Phase one is open to registrants of existing .es domains, allowing them to register domains before they become available to the public. Phase one is expected to commence on July 10th. We understand that existing .es domain registrants will be eligible to register .org.es, .com.es and .nom.es as long as they meet the eligibility requirements.

The new suffixes are available to persons or entities having interests or maintaining links with Spain within the following categories:

.com.es - individuals or entities
.org.es - not for profit organisations
.nom.es - individuals
.gob.es - Spanish Public Sector
.edu.es - educational or research

N3 lite will continue to keep you up to date over the coming weeks.

Hilton Group chooses NetNames Platinum Service for online brand protection

London - 24 June 2003 - NetNames, the UK's leading domain name specialists, today announces that it has been selected by Hilton Group plc to manage their entire portfolio of domain names and help protect the company's brands online.

As well as Hilton International, which owns the rights to the Hilton brand outside the USA, the deal also involves the management of domain names for Ladbrokes Worldwide, a leading UK betting and gaming organisation, and LivingWell one of the largest health club operators in the UK.

By consolidating their domain portfolio of more than 500 names with Platinum Service, the Hilton Group will take advantage of NetNames unique online Portfolio Manager solution to monitor all of the group's domain names for complete visibility and control. Within the portfolio, the Hilton Group can set up different sections for the various companies under the group.

"After reviewing our domain name strategy and looking at available options, we have decided to consolidate the group's entire portfolio with NetNames," said Geoffrey Chester, Hilton's Solicitor and General Counsel. "We found it to be the best solution available for corporate domain name management to ensure that our important online names are managed and protected."

Rodger Armstrong, Director of Sales and Marketing at NetNames, commented: "Platinum Service has been specifically designed to meet the needs of corporate clients such as the Hilton Group. It gives companies peace of mind through the certainty of renewal and provides the flexibility needed to manage domain names on an ongoing basis."

NetNames reveals Wimbledon players Internet popularity rankings

London, 23 June 2003 - Wimbledon 2003 has barely begun, but women's tennis is already trouncing its male counterpart in terms of popularity on the Internet, according to research announced today from domain name specialist NetNames.

It will come as no surprise that Anna Kournikova is the most popular tennis star on the web, with a total of 80 websites bearing her name and paying homage to the Russian star with varying degrees of decency. The Williams sisters are in second and third place, managing 47 web sites combined. Also making the top ten are Jennifer Capriati and Lindsey Davenport with 10 and seven websites respectively.

Mens tennis seems to be far less popular on the web with the entire top ten male players managing a total of just 81 domain names between them. Rising US star Andy Roddick is top seed with 16 sites. Britain's very own Tim Henman is in second place with 14 domain names. Seven-times Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras is in third place with ten sites including mydoglookslikepetesampras.com.

Jonathan Robinson, Director of Business Development at NetNames comments:
"Top sports stars have become global brands with huge marketing potential. Although there will always be domain name speculators out there trying to capitalise on well known companies and celebrities, what was particularly surprising from our research was that so few tennis players or their agents have made any effort to protect their online brand. Many players have left themselves open to cybersquatting by failing to register common variations of domains based on their name such as .co.uk. This could prove to be particularly damaging when trying to retain control of a player's reputation online."

NetNames Online Domain Name Rankings 2003

Men

No.	Name	No. of domains	ATP Ranking
1	Andy Roddick	16	6
2	Tim Henman	14	29
3	Pete Sampras	10	28
4	Lleyton Hewitt	9	2
5	Andre Agassi	9	1
6	Roger Federer	7	5
7	Carlos Moya	5	4
8	David Nalbandian	4	9
9	Greg Rusedski	4	51
10	Juan Carlos Ferrero	3	3

Women

No.	Name	No. of domains	ATP Ranking
1	Anna Kournikova	80	77
2	Venus Williams	28	4
3	Serena Williams	19	1
4	Jelena Dokic	14	12
5	Daniela Hantuchova	11	9
6	Jennifer Capriati	10	7
7	Kim Clijsters	10	2
8	Lindsay Davenport	7	5
9	Monica Seles	7	18
10	Chanda Rubin	5	8

Happy Birthday DNS!

The Domain Name System (DNS), a key component essential to the modern Internet, has this week turned 20 years old.

On the 23rd of June 1983, the DNS had its first successful test at the University of Southern California School of Engineering's Information Sciences Institute.

Jon Postel and Paul Mockapetris created the revolutionary system which allows computers to find each other on the network and send information back and forth without having humans manually look up the addresses of each machine.

Before DNS, the addresses of all computers on the Internet were maintained in a central catalogue of host names and addresses. Mockapetris devised a system that let those who had computers on the Internet own a domain and assign their own computers to it.

Bill challenges ICANN decision

Two US congressmen filed legislation last Thursday designed to block a decision by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to give VeriSign control of the lucrative market for expired domain names ending in .com and .net. The bill also calls for a federal investigation of ICANN's business practices.

Beware of unsolicited .biz renewal requests

Companies with .biz domain names have been warned to check carefully any unsolicited emails they receive asking them to renew their domains. A company called Dot Biz Domain Renewal, have been sending emails to owners of .biz domains claiming that the domains are due for renewal, and directing people to their website to pay by credit card.

.biz domain names were not launched until November 2001 with a minimum registration period of 2 years, so in any case the earliest they will be due for renewal is November this year. However, Dot Biz Domain Renewal is not a legitimate company, so NetNames advises all clients to ignore any unsolicited emails. For domains registered with NetNames, you will receive ample notification of any renewals that fall due. If you have any concerns, please feel free to contact us.