The new .biz domain name went live today at 5.01am GMT. NeuLevel, the much-criticised registry operator for .biz, today activated over 160,000 pre-registered .biz domain names from more than 150 countries and started taking registrations for additional names on a first-come, first-served basis.

The introduction of .biz and, shortly before it, .info, represents the first new publicly available generic top level domain names in 15 years. However, the introduction of each new name was repeatedly delayed, prompting criticism of both NeuLevel and the equivalent .info organisation, Afilias. A court case against NeuLevel, alleging that the advanced allocation of 53,000 .biz names was done illegally, is ongoing.

Doug Armentrout, CEO of NeuLevel said:

".Biz is where business will be conducted in the future because it has what the business community needs: superior technology, better security and a platform to facilitate the business transactions of the future. This isn't just the future of the internet; this is the future of business."

Companies interested in securing a .biz name can register through one of the 90 .biz-accredited registrars or their thousands of resellers around the world.

We are processing your request. \n Thank you for your patience. An error occurred. This could be due to inactivity on the page - please try again.