Sarnoff Proposes TLD for Consumers

A new top-level (TLD) domain suggestion, aimed at individuals, has been
submitted to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

Sarnoff, a leading broadcast organization, submitted the open-standard
proposal in conjunction with its new venture, Next DNS, and Atomic
Tangerine, an independent venture consulting firm.

“The dot-i domain would allow consumers to obtain a lasting Internet
presence – agnostic to location, service providers or devices,” noted
Shaleindra K. Suman, executive director, Sarnoff Corp. “The proposed domain
would lower the mental barrier for people to adopt and use the Internet on a
greater scale, and move it beyond the desktop to other mediums such as
television, handheld devices, automobiles and more.”

The proposal also offers an innovative solution to the growing problem of
information overload at the individual level, added Suman. “Unlike naming
conventions used in today’s .com. .edu or .org domains, the applicant’s
proposed domain will be people-centered rather than entity specific,” he
explained. “This enables each person in the world to have his or her own
personal domain name, thus increasing the usefulness and reach of the domain
name system.”

It is also anticipated that the dot-i domain name will reduce switching
barriers for individuals and their information appliances, thereby sparking
enhanced competition among Access Service Providers and telecom companies,
as well as cell phone, handheld and paging manufacturers, according to Tom
Lento, director of corporate communications at Sarnoff.

The proposed domain would also provide benefits to ISPs, he added. “For
instance, AOL could provide services to a dot-i domain-name holder, no
matter what device he or she is using” he said. “It is a way to reach people
universally

“This is an opportunity for ISPs to offer value-added services, such as
instant messaging,” he added. “This is an opportunity to give users rich
media content delivery in addition to bundles services.”