"If your business or organisation is looking to establish a foothold in the enormous and potentially lucrative Chinese marketplace, you need a .cn address," writes NeuStar Inc., the US company that is working with the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) to accept .cn domain name registrations through registrars located outside of China.
The current registration process, which requires written documentation and can take weeks to complete, will be replaced with a real-time online registration service.
CNNIC is responsible for administering and managing the .cn domain, and also oversees all .cn domain name registration services to registrars and resellers within China. Conversely, NeuLevel has become the exclusive registry gateway for .cn outside of China.
Despite having the largest population of any country in the world, China has only 56 million internet users, according to Netratings. However, according to NeuStar, that figure is doubling every 12 to 18 months.
With China's entrance into the World Trade Organization, international trade is also expected to accelerate. According to a report last month by Gartner, the Chinese IT services market is forecast to reach $4.9 billion in 2003, an 18% percent increase from 2002.
Beginning at 4pm GMT on 16th March, businesses and organisations everywhere will be able to purchase second-level .cn names – such as www.mycompany.cn – on a first-come, first-served basis. However, CNNIC does retain the right to delete any domain that it deems unacceptable.
Registrars accredited by NeuStar will sell the names. A list is available at:
www.neulevel.biz/partners/registrars.html
A .cn guide "for international businesspeople" is available from Neustar as a 14-page PDF.
Meanwhile, on Monday, Afghanistan will activate its .af domain name for Afghan e-mail addresses and web sites, according to officials at the United Nations quoted by Wired News. The internet had been banned under the Taliban.