Issue 143 - 9th January

.name second level goes live January 14th

On January 14th, the .name suffix will change from a restricted third level domain to a mainstream second level domain for individuals. This makes it structurally the same as other Top Level Domains such as. .com, .org, .info, and means you can now register domains directly at the second level e.g. johnsmith.name. Previously it was only possible to register third level .name domains e.g. john.smith.name.

Third level .name domains will continue to be available for new registrations and all existing registrations will continue to function as normal.

You can check availability and place an order for second level .name domains today via www.netnames.com (click on the register link and select name from the drop down list). We will then submit this application as soon as the Registry goes live on January 14th.

Update on .eu domain

There has been a lot of speculation in the industry regarding the introduction of the .eu domain name. NetNames wish to remind clients that it is currently not possible to pre-register .eu domain names and that the official launch date is still some time off.

The latest statement from the official Registry, Eurid, is as follows:

"Before we can launch .eu, we must wait for the Public Policy Rules (PPR) for .eu which are currently being drafted by the European Commission, in consultation with the Member States of the EU."

"We now understand that these rules will not be announced before the end of February 2004 and with this information we have made a tentative timetable which indicates the sunrise period will commence in September 2004 and general registrations in November 2004."

For more information on this and other new domain names, you can visit www.gtld.com

N3 lite will continue to keep you up to date on any new developments.

Men.com sells for $1.3 million

CNN has recently reported that a man in Florida has sold the domain name men.com for $1.3 million. The acquiring company, men.com LLC, claim they will be using the domain name to create an online portal for men.

It has been some time now since such a large sale of a domain name has been recorded. During the boom, there were a few cases of domain names selling for seven figure sums, including $7.5 million for business.com in late 1999 and $3 million for loans.com in January 2000.