The Wait Continues For New Top-Level Domains

NeuLevel Inc., which has been appointed the exclusive registry operator
for the .BIZ top-level domain (TLD) by the Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers (ICANN), Thursday said that the .BIZ Registry
will not go live until Wednesday, Nov. 7. The new TLD was previously
scheduled to become effective on Oct. 23.

The .BIZ TLD is the second of seven new TLDs to be added to the current
system, which includes domains like .ORG, .NET, .EDU and the ever popular
.COM as well as several country codes. The first new domain names, .INFO, went live this past summer but the rollout wasn’t nearly as smooth as
had been expected with the official .INFO registry, Afilias, needing to enlist the help of the World Intellectual Property Organization
(WIPO) to resolve disputes.

“NeuLevel is taking extra care to ensure our systems will support the
early go-live demand,” said Doug Armentrout, CEO of NeuLevel, Inc. “Due to
the significant recent market demand for the new TLDs, including .BIZ, we
concluded that we needed extra time to test our systems in conjunction with
our registrar channel partners. We are determined to turn up our live
registry service with a system that can accept the market’s demand,
regardless of the amount of traffic generated.”

The new postponement represents the second delay for the .BIZ domains.
Neulevel originally planned to rollout the TLD on Oct. 1 but pushed it back
to Oct. 23 due to the business disruptions that followed the events of Sept.
11.

The other new domains scheduled to be implemented by ICANN are: .name,
.pro, .aero, .museum and .coop.

Separately, ICANN on Thursday announced the appointment of the Museum
Domain Management Association (MuseDoma) to oversee the operation of the
.MUSEUM top-level domain. So, watch out MOMA!