Melbourne IT Pty Ltd, the Australian domain names registrar, reckons it can do what no other .com registrar has been able to and register domain names over 22 characters long. The company, which brands its service as Internet Names WorldWide, says it can register names of up to 63 characters, not including the .com/.org/.net suffix. It has already managed to poach one US reseller, San Diego-based Internet Crusade Inc, from incumbent registrar Network Solutions Inc.
Mike Barnett, technology director with the company, says it made the switch because NSI’s database is only capable of registering 22-character domains. But the Internic registry database, run by NSI, can handle 63, and INWW is the only company currently handling such long names. Internet Crusade has registered domains such as TheUnitedStatesOfAmerica.com and FederalBureauOfInvestigation.com which it intends to make available to the relevant government bodies. It has also, bizarrely, registered Microsoft Corp’s trademarked slogan WhereDoYouWantToGoToday.com, which could smack of cyber-squatting.
INWW expects to sell to companies such as Credit Suisse First Boston Corp, which have names over the 22 character current limit, as well as to any customer wishing to register an advertising slogan or marketing gimmick.
