.Biz Goes Live

STERLING, Va., Nov. 7 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --

World's First Internet Domain 'Built For Business' Accepting New BIZ Registrations on First-Come, First-Serve Basis Starting Today

.BIZ -- the world's first global top-level Internet domain (gTLD) built exclusively for business -- is now live. At 00:00:01 U.S. EST today, NeuLevel, the exclusive registry operator for .BIZ, formally 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-serve basis. In the coming months, millions of businesses around the world are expected to register and use their own .BIZ names.

Upgrading the Internet for Business.

The introduction of .BIZ represents the first advance in the Internet addressing system in 15 years and brings to the Internet the world's first and only Internet domain established to meet the unique needs of businesses.

"In many ways, the Internet today is like the wild, wild west. It was never designed for commercial use," said Douglas B. Armentrout, CEO of NeuLevel. ".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."

The New Address for Business

In a recent survey, 80% of executives said that having the right domain name was "important" to "critical" to their business's future. But the exponential growth of the Internet over the past several years has precluded many businesses from securing the web address they really want. Now, the Internet's addressing system is being expanded to deal with that problem.

Last year, the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) designated .BIZ as the first truly global, business-only space on the Internet

"Out of all of the new TLDs that will be introduced, we believe that .BIZ is the one with the greatest potential," said Todd Weller, Vice President of Equity Research, Legg Mason. "This brings a lot more inventory and opportunity for businesses to establish their presence on the Internet."

More Than a Better Web Address for Business

The development of the .BIZ registry system started with a clean sheet of paper and represents far more than the addition of much needed domain name real estate. Not burdened by legacy systems ill-equipped for dealing with today's security challenges, .BIZ provides its users with higher levels of security -- ensuring that .BIZ registered addresses can not be "hijacked" in the future or otherwise incapacitated.
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"NeuLevel will draw on NeuStar's rich heritage of operating mission-critical infrastructure and public resources to the highest levels of reliability, security and stability," said Jeffrey E. Ganek, Chairman of NeuLevel and CEO of NeuStar, Inc., NeuLevel's parent company. For example, NeuStar operates the telephone numbering registry for the North American Numbering Plan, a public numbering resource that is touched by almost every phone call in North America. Added Ganek, "All of our registries are protected by the highest grades of encryption and security technologies -- on a 24/7 basis -- and provide a 99.999% level of availability."

Ultimately, the .BIZ technology platform will enable services that solve many of the fundamental problems that businesses face on the Internet such as communication across different platforms and devices; being easily found by customers; and the need for higher levels of security.

".BIZ is really getting at the core of what businesses need on the Internet," said Ted Chamberlin, network analyst at Gartner Group Inc., a leading technology research and advisory firm. "It's long overdue -- both the additional names and the new technology."

Companies interested in securing a .BIZ name can register through one of the almost 90 .BIZ-accredited registrars or their thousands of resellers around the world. For a full list of .BIZ registrars, visit: http://www.neulevel.biz .

About NeuLevel, Inc.

Headquartered in Sterling, VA, NeuLevel, Inc. is the neutral, third-party responsible for the creation, maintenance and servicing of the .BIZ top-level domain, the world's first Internet address dedicated exclusively to the needs of business.

NeuLevel was established in August 2000 as a joint venture between Washington, D.C.-based NeuStar, Inc. and Melbourne, Australia-based Melbourne IT, Ltd. NeuLevel has combined NeuStar's credentials and experience in managing large, mission-critical databases with the technically advanced, domain name registration capabilities of Melbourne IT.

For more information, visit: http://www.neulevel.biz .

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