The Domain Name System

When you click on a link with an underlying URL, you are taken to the computer named in the URL. Having a name for a server is important for Internet business. For example, if you wanted to go to the IBM Web site, you would naturally guess the name to be www.ibm.com. Certainly names like amazon.com have become valuable trademarks. Indeed,there have been numerous law suits over domain names. Many businesses invest a great deal of time and money in selecting an appropriate domain name. It is important to have a name that is easy to remember. A good domain name can also be a marketing tool.

Many companies are discovering that if they want to register a domain name, the name is already taken. To help alleviate this problem, ICANN has approved seven new top level domain names. They are .aero, .biz, .coop, ,info, .museum, .name,and .pro. Not surprisingly, there are companies trying to usurp the power of ICANN. One such company is New.net. They have come up with their own top level domain names like .family, .tech, and .xxx. However, because they are not approved by ICANN, their domain names are not part of the root server system. In order to reach host computers using the New.net domain names, a user, or the user's Internet service provider, must use special software that adds the extension new.net onto every address.

Douglas Adams is the owner of Home Based Business News , a website dedicated to increasing knowledge of home based business issues.