One of the first decisions faced by a company which intends to set up a site on the Internet is what to call it. Names are as important on the Net as in other walks of life, and companies often want short, snappy ones which are as close as possible to their recognised names or trademarks.
The easiest way to get a name on the Net is through an Internet service provider (ISP), which, for example, could give a company called Fred a name such as www.providername.ie/fred. But for a company conscious of its status on the Net, www.fred.ie is infinitely preferable. This means it gets its own domain name, rather than using someone else's.
A domain name - the bit after the "@" sign in an email address, or after the "www" and before the next "/" in a Web address - has to be unique and has to be registered. Some ISPs provide this as part of their service, but this does not mean it's easy to get the domain name of your choice.
When the Internet was administered by the US government, domain name registration was the responsibility of InterNIC (the Internet Network Information Centre). It came up with five domain names in the United States, the one for companies, .com, being the most popular. Other countries were assigned their own top-level domain names, .ie being the one for Ireland.
There was no charge for registering names until after the Net was privatised in 1995, and since then registration of names has usually involved an annual fee. Many companies, eager to have their own domain names, are registering their names even if they don't yet have an Internet site.
Several opportunists, speculating on the potential value of domain names, have registered popular words as domain names, and have sometimes registered the names of big companies before the companies themselves, and subsequently sold the names to the companies.
Domain name registries may try to prevent such speculation, but some companies have had to go to court to register a trademark or name they feel they're entitled to, which someone else has already registered. Other companies have found it easier come to a settlement, effectively buying the names from whoever registered them first.
In Ireland, as in the rest of the world, registration of new domain names is booming. Responsibility for registering second-level names within the .ie domain lies with the Computing Services department at UCD. The registry also performs domain name resolution (DNS) services, whereby names are translated into addresses when users send email or look up Web pages.
The registry at UCD has been running for seven years now, and has been charging for name registration since last October. The annual charge for maintaining a name is £100, or £48 for names registered through an agent acting on behalf of five or more domain name holders. There are currently more than 3,000 names registered, most of them at the discounted rate.
Registering new names in the .ie domain is a relatively straightforward procedure. Applicants fill in an electronic template at the registry's Web site (http:// www.ucd.ie/hostmaster) and email it to the domain name registry (hostmaster@ucd.ie).
Besides the requested domain name, the application must include details of the applicant, the name or IP address of the name-server or mail server within the new domain (if known), and an administrative contact person.
There are four general requirements of a proposed domain name: it must be valid, available, reachable and well managed. Valid names can contain letters (upper or lower case), numbers, and hyphens, although they must start and end with alphanumeric characters. The name must be at least three characters long, and must not be a recognised top-level domain name, such as .com, .edu, .org, .gov or .mil.
The proposed name must be available, and must be somehow related to the name of the applicant. The registry's guidelines say: "where the proposed name is either already in use, or appears likely to be claimed by another applicant, another name shall be chosen." This is to avoid speculative registrations. Thus a request to register mcdonalds.ie, which is not currently registered, would likely be rejected, unless it came from the McDonald's Corporation (which only registered mcdonalds.com when it got it back from a speculator).
Patrick Kane, one of the three host-masters in the registry, says applications are manually checked, although requests which come through ISPs are more likely to be taken at face value. If someone registered a name, and it was subsequently found that they had lied about their status, the name could be taken back. Dr Niall O'Reilly of the registry says: "None of the names we have registered has been challenged on the basis that it was speculative."
The Irish domain registry operates what they call a "flat bed" naming structure. There is no second-level structure, such as .edu.ie, or .co.ie, as there is in the .uk domain in Britain, for example. Currently only one name may be registered per applicant, although Mr Kane says this is under review. A detailed list of rules for applicants and a list of all registered names may be found at the domain name registry's Web site.
The number of domain names registered is growing rapidly. At the beginning of 1995 there were 347 domains registered under the .ie top level. Now there are more than 3,000, and the number is doubling every 10 months. The domain registry service says it is run on a "not-for-profit" basis, and that the money it raises is spent on staff and equipment.
Beyond the .ie domain, companies looking for an international presence on the Net are advised to register their domain names in the .com domain. However be warned: .com is crowded, and the Internet community in the United States has already registered many names likely to be popular.
The message is clear: companies who want the domain name of their choice should act sooner rather than later.
Eoin Licken is at:
eoinl@iol.ie
(His Web site www.stilet.to hasn't gone live yet!)