(openPR) - ICANN accredited Registrar Secura today announced that it will offer the pre-registration of asia-domains.

Asia-domains have been added to the Internet root ushering in a new era of online growth for the region. The asia-domain allows individuals and companies to target the largest Internet community in the world as well as people looking for relevant information about Asia, from Asia, and for Asia. For companies, brands, and marketers, the new top level domain
adds a strong sense of affiliation to corporate brands and online identities and communicates a commitment to Asia.

Today, there are already 400 million Internet users in Asia accounting for only 10% of the region's total population. "With a rapidly growing Asian economy, we believe that the introduction of .asia will help fuel the continued growth of the Internet in the region and drive more opportunity for both business and individuals", commented Edmon Chung, CEO, DotAsia Organisation.

The introduction of the asia-domains, a regional domain which is a natural word, marks the next evolution of the Internet that can open up a world of possibilities for individuals and companies. Among the businesses that will benefit by having an asia-domain are domestic companies expanding in the region, global firms with Asia-focused sectors, regional exhibitions or conference related websites, and regional focused promotional events.

Today, the word 'Asia' is widely used in numerous brands and company names. A Google search returned about 1.5 million results for the term 'Asia Ltd'. The monster.com website listed about 300 names that started with the term 'Asia' on its online company database for US companies.

Theamazon.com site listed more than 900 entries when searching 'Asia' under the magazine category, and over 200,000 entries in books.

"The beauty of .Asia is that it provides value that goes well beyond a simple domain extension. The term 'Asia' is versatile in its usage, and can be used equally well to signify both where an entity comes from, as well as to identify its intended audience",adds Mr. Chung.

The DotAsia organization is committed to the long term growth and evolution of the Internet. Beginning today, DotAsia is introducing a comprehensive set of policies to protect trademark owners, IPR holders, and companies to ensure the orderly introduction of the .Asia extension. Preparations are now underway for the launch of the Sunrise process, the exclusive period that allows public bodies, trademark owners, and companies to apply for .Asia extensions.

The Sunrise period, which will begin in October 2007, will be divided into three phases, with the first stage intended for Governmental Reserved Names, second phase for Registered Marks (i.e. Trademarks and service marks), and the final stage for Registered Entity Names (i.e. company names, organisations, etc.).

Hans Peter Oswald
www.domainregistry.de/asia.html

Secura GmbH
Am Alten Posthof 4-6
D-50667 Koeln
secura@domainregistry.de
www.domainregistry.de
Tel. 49 221 2571213
Fax 49 221 9252272
ICANN accredited registrar
of Top Level Domains

Secura is accredited at ICANN for all generic Top Level Domains. Secura can register all generic top level domains and all active country domains