NEW TOP LEVEL DOMAIN TAKES ON .COM

New businesses on the net face a major problem: A viable internet address. The big But is..there are hardly any .COM domains left. Many organisations would like to get into this highly lucrative business of supplying domain names, and now .ST has jumped in where many fear to tred. Bahnhof InfoWerk, an internet services group based in Sweden has launched .ST

ST Registry, the official full-service registration center for the new SiTe Domain, has just opened at www.nic.st. Bahnhof has been appointed technical manager of the .ST country code top level domain, which is now marketed as The SiTe Domain. Bahnhof hopes the .ST domain to swiftly become the second largest Internet top level domain.

"The global Internet community already interprets .ST as short for "SiTe", although it technically stands for Sao Tome and Principe.", says Jon Karlung, CEO of Bahnhof Internet. Sao Tome and Principe is a tiny island country in Central Africa's Gulf of Guinea, where Bahnhof has formed a local partnership and conceived an Internet development plan in cooperation with local interests.

A Partner Program is being implemented, targeting Domain Registration Centers and Internet Service Providers. Registered partners will get an own "entrance" to the ST Registry.

A Flash movie on the SiTe Domain web about vacuum cleaners, intended to pinpoint the difference between a .COM and a .ST address, turned into an instant classic. Find it at vacuum.

Oscar Swartz, President of Bahnhof InfoWerk and analyst of the new economy explains why The SiTe Domain is actually preferrable for many businesses to a .COM domain: "Many business ideas on the net are based on a less direct way of selling than in the old economy. The new economy is about creating loyalty and relations with customers, to attract members who also happen to be clients. Softcore selling is in, hardcore is out! Do firms want to be perceived as running a COMMERCIAL site, or a commercial SITE?".

The aggressive lifestyle of the global economy is getting tiresome to say the least. Will a free-market be allowed to develop in the domain name business - highly unlikely unless the power of big money is undermined by `free-business' much more than it has been to date. But good luck to .ST and here's hoping it is not going to be left alone to become yet another "market leader".