MEDIA RELEASE: INTERNET NAMES WORLDWIDE CREATES THE NEW EXTENDED DOMAIN NAME ! (Melbourne, Australia ­ 5 November 1999) Internet Names WorldWide(INWW), a division of Melbourne IT Ltd, one of the original five testbed ICANN accredited registrars, is the first company in the world to introduce technology enabling Internet Domain Name Registrations of up to 63 characters! This is 37 characters more than Network Solutions who can only currently register domain names up to 22 characters. Although most organizations and individuals are unaware of 63 character domain names, a small number of companies have immediately recognized the significance of the extension, considering memorable domain names are such a scarce commodity today. The introduction of extended 63 character domain names will be good news to corporations who always wanted to register and secure their complete company name. Complete company names greater than 22 characters are not uncommon, and already domain names such as CreditSuisseFirstBoston.com, NationalWestministerBank.com and HarleyDavidsonMotorCycles.com have been registered through INWW. As the administrator of the Australian commercial domain .com.au, INWW has analysed its 115,000 .com.au registrations to date, and found that close to 1% of total .com.au registrations are over 22 characters. Mr Clive Flory, General Manager of INWW said, "When you look at our .com.au registration data, consider the policy restrictions of .com.au, and then look at the 9 million .com names registered, we predict there will be a large demand worldwide for .com domain names registered with over 22 characters in the next 12 months." Mr Flory also added: "Over 30% of our .com registrations have been over 22 characters in the past 3 weeks." Internet Crusade, INWW's first US partner, has been instrumental in educating the US marketplace about 63 character domain names. Mike Barnett, VP Technology of Internet Crusade said: "The extended domain name is not only about registering complete company names, the opportunity is much bigger when you consider the registration of company slogans, products and associations." Mike Barnett also added: " In less than 2 weeks, Internet Crusade has already registered thousands of extended domain names with INWW. " Some of the names recently registered include: TheUnitedStatesOfAmerica.com,NationalBasketballAssociation.com, FederalBureauOfInvestigation.com,IsThereADoctorInTheHouse.com, CentralIntelligenceAgency.com, UniversityofSouthernCalifornia.com Notwithstanding the commercial applications for the new extended 63 character domain name, spare a thought for the welsh village that previously could not register their own village domain name. However, there is good news, they now claim possibly the longest .com name in history! llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.com To be part of this new piece of Internet history, please visit: www.InternetNamesWW.com or visit INWW's first US partner, Internet Crusade at www.InternetCrusade.com. About Internet Names WorldWide: INWW is a division of Melbourne IT Ltd, and is the largest domain registrar in the Asia Pacific. INWW was the first non-US based ICANN registrar to go "live" offering .com registration services. INWW has over 500 Australian and International channel partners offering INWW's registration services. ENDS. Media enquires should be directed to: Nicola Mendleson, Mendleson Communication, telephone: 61 3 9531 8957 or email: nicola@mendleson.com.au Ewan Watt, Business Development Manager, Internet Names WorldWide, telephone: (+613) 9344 0935 or email: ewan.watt@internetnamesww.com