14 DAY TRIAL // The first batch of new generic top level domain names is rolling out. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has announced that several international domain names will become available within weeks.
"As a result, the domain name Registries, the organizations approved to operate these and other soon-to-be-delegated gTLDs, can execute the final processes required to make their domain names available to Internet users," the ICANN announced.
The four new domains available are شبكة, which is Arabic for "web/network," 游戏, which is Chinese for "game," and онлайн and сайт, which is Russian for "online" and "site." Anyone will be able to register domains with the new gTLDs very soon.
All the new domain names are non-Latin strings, or Internationalized Domain Name, as they are called. Quite a few more of these, in various languages, are in the process of being approved.
These are the first of the new gTLDs to become available. Many others are in the planning phases and will start to become available once they are approved, over the coming months and years.
A few years back, ICANN controversially announced that it was opening up the system to suggestions, making it possible for companies to suggest and pay for custom top level domain names.
Quite a few companies expressed their interest, with Amazon and Google applying for dozens of names.
Most of the applications still need to be approved, and disputes, where two or more organizations want the same name, need to be resolved. There are some 1,400 gTLD applications in the new wave. Currently, there are 22 approved gTLDs, like .com or .biz.
"ICANN's New gTLD Program was designed to facilitate a measured rollout of new domains so as not to disrupt the Domain Name System. The gTLDs from the New gTLD Program will be introduced into the Internet securely and steadily over the next few years," the organization added.