NEWS

WIRES

OTHER

dotNYC Applauds New York City Plan to Seek .NYC Web Address

NEW YORK, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Today's announcement that the City of New York will seek the .NYC web address makes New York the first U.S. city to seek a top-level domain. dotNYC LLC, a private company that for the last year has been meeting with city officials about the plan for the .NYC web address, is applying to become the city's operating partner.

Former Mayor Ed Koch, who supports the dotNYC effort to operate .NYC on the city's behalf, said: ".NYC is the best real estate deal since the Dutch bought Manhattan." (Video of Mayor Koch: http://www.dotnyc.net/ed-koch)

Everyone is familiar with generic web addresses (known as top-level domains) ending in .com, .org, .net, .edu and .gov. But early next year there will be many more when the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) begins accepting applications for new web addresses from cities, companies, organizations and entrepreneurial ventures that want to create their own.

ICANN's approval of .NYC will allow New York city residents, businesses, groups, government agencies and tourist attractions to register website names and have email addresses ending in .NYC - directly identifying themselves with the world's leading city. Examples include: theater.nyc, pizza.nyc, blockparty.nyc, statueofliberty.nyc, yourname.nyc, yourbusinessname.nyc and millions more.

Dozens of cities worldwide are expected to apply for their own top-level domains, including Rome (.roma), Berlin (.berlin), Paris (.paris), London (.london) and Barcelona (.bcn).

dotNYC is led by Internet pioneers with unmatched experience creating and operating top-level domains, and is backed by a proven registry technology that currently powers more than a dozen top-level domains for countries around the world. In addition, dotNYC is affiliated with the team seeking to create the .eco web address. That effort, www.supportdoteco.com, is backed by former Vice President Al Gore and will dedicate a majority of profits to fighting global warming - just as New York City will keep most .NYC proceeds.

Antony Van Couvering, the CEO of dotNYC and a Manhattan resident, is a founder of Minds + Machines (www.mindsandmachines.com), which provides technical services for new top-level domains. Following a series of meetings with city officials about the .NYC web address, Mr. Van Couvering was invited to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's State of the City address in February where she unveiled the city's plan to pursue .NYC.

"Today's announcement that New York City will seek an operating partner for .NYC is a significant milestone towards a great online identity for all of us who live and work here," Mr. Van Couvering said. "The city made the right decision about how to apply for this important asset, and we're confident the city will make the right decision when choosing a partner."

ABOUT dotNYC LLC

dotNYC's efforts to create the .NYC web address moved into full swing last year when ICANN announced plans to accept applications for new top-level domains based on city names. dotNYC is based in Manhattan, and its executive team includes founding members of ICANN who together have launched five successful top-level domains and advised dozens of others. In addition, members of the dotNYC team created the worldwide model for public-private partnerships to operate geographic-based web addresses.

SOURCE dotNYC LLC