IP: ICANN PRESS RELEASE: ICANN NAMES FIFTEEN NEW POST-TESTBED REGIST RARS

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> ICANN NAMES FIFTEEN NEW POST-TESTBED REGISTRARS
>
> (July 6, 1999)  The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
> (ICANN) announced today that fifteen additional applicant companies have met
> its accreditation criteria and, upon completion of the ongoing testbed
> program, will be accredited to compete as registrars in the .com, .net, and
> .org domains. Until the initial introduction of competitive registration
> services last month, registration services in the .com, .net, and .org
> domains were provided solely by Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI), which has
> enjoyed an exclusive right to handle registrations under a 1992 Cooperative
> Agreement with the U.S. Government.
>
> The fifteen companies named today will join the 5 already-accredited testbed
> registrars and the 37 post-testbed registrars that have been announced by
> ICANN since April, 1999.  "These fifteen companies are a powerful testament
> to the energy, commitment, and determination which have marked the Internet
> community's ongoing efforts to bring the benefits of open competition to the
> market for domain name registration services in the .com, .net, and .org
> domains," said Mike Roberts, President and CEO of ICANN.
>
> The fifteen companies named today are:
>
>      Affinity Hosting (United States)
>           <http://www.affinity.net>
>      Alabanza, Inc. (United States)
>           <http://www.alabanza.com>
>      Animus Communications, Inc. (United States)
>           <http://www.animus.net>
>      Computer Data Networks (Kuwait)
>           <http://www.cdn.com>
>      Concentric Network Corp. (United States)
>           <http://www.concentric.com>
>      Domain Registration Services (United States)
>           <http://www.thewebsiteinc.com>
>      EnetRegistry.com Corporation (United States)
>           <http://www.enetregistry.com>
>      EPAG Enter-Price Multimedia AG (Germany)
>           < http://www.epag.de>
>      InterAccess Company (United States)
>           <http://www.interaccess.com>
>      PSINet, Inc. (United States)
>          <http://www.psi.com>
>      Research Institute for Computer Science, Inc. (Japan)
>           <http://www.rics.co.jp>
>      SiteName (Israel)
>           <http://www.sitename.com>
>      TierraNet, Inc. (United States)
>           <http://www.tierranet.com>
>      TotalWeb Solutions (United Kingdom)
>           <http://www.totalweb.co.uk>
>      World-Net (France)
>           <http://www.worldnet.net>
>
> Further information about these companies will be available shortly on the
> ICANN website <http://www.icann.org/registrars/accreditation.html>.
>
> ABOUT REGISTRAR ACCREDITATION
>
> The 15 companies named today have qualified to be accredited upon the
> completion of the competitive registrar testbed program for the Shared
> Registry System in the .com, .net, and .org domains.  Under the Cooperative
> Agreement between NSI and the U.S. Government, the testbed program began on
> April 26 and is scheduled to last until July 16, 1999.  Following the
> conclusion of the testbed phase, the Shared Registry System for the .com,
> .net, and .org domains will be opened on equal terms to all accredited
> registrars, meaning that any accredited company will be able to enter the
> market as a registrar and offer customers competitive domain name
> registration services in the .com, .net, and .org domains.  For further
> details, see <http://www.icann.org/registrars/accreditation.html>.
>
> The five companies accredited to participate in the testbed phase are:
> America Online; CORE (Internet Council of Registrars); France
> Telecom/Oléane; Melbourne IT; and register.com.  For more on the testbed
> registrars, see <http://www.icann.org/registrars/icann-pr21apr99.htm>
>
> The 37 other applicant companies that have met ICANN's accreditation
> criteria and that will be accredited to compete as registrars upon
> completion of the testbed phase are:  9NetAvenue;  A Technology Company;
> ABACUS America, Inc./A+Net;  Active ISP;  Advanced Systems Consulting, Inc.;
> Alldomains.com;  All West Communications;  American Domain Name Registry;
> AT&T;  CASDNS, Inc.; Domain Bank, Inc.;  Domain Direct;  DomainRegistry.com;
> eNom, Inc.;  InfoAvenue;  InfoNetworks;  InfoRamp/Tech Dogs;  Interactive
> Telecom Network;  Interdomain;  Internet Domain Registrars;  interQ
> Incorporated; Marvin Enterprises, Inc./Global Knowledge Group;  MS
> Intergate;  The Name-It Corporation/Advanced Internet Technologies, Inc.;
> NameSecure.com;  Name.Space Inc.;  NetBenefit;  NetNames; NetNation
> Communications;  Nominalia;  Port Information System AB;  PSI-Japan, Inc.;
> RCN;  Telepartner AS;  Verio;  Virtual Internet;  and WebTrends.  For more
> on these companies, see
> <http://www.icann.org/registrars/accreditation-qualified-list.html>
>
> ABOUT ICANN
>
> The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a
> non-profit, international corporation formed in September 1998 to oversee a
> select set of Internet technical management functions currently managed by
> the U.S. Government, or by its contractors and volunteers.   Specifically,
> ICANN is taking over responsibility for coordinating the assignment of
> protocol parameters, the management of the domain name system (DNS), the
> allocation of IP address space, and the management of the root server
> system.
>
> For more information, please contact:
>
> Pam Brewster
> Alexander Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
> 415-923-1660 
> pbrewster () alexanderogilvy com
> or 
> Joe Sheffo
> Alexander Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
> 415-923-1660 
> jsheffo () alexanderogilvy com
>
>
> Andrew McLaughlin
> mclaughlin () icann org
> +1 (617) 495-4935