By Felicity Ussher, 8 October 1998 00:20
NEWS On the day the US government was due to hand over control of the Internet to industry, it has extended Network Solutions' exclusive contract for another two years. Network Solutions will retain control over the root server, which holds all top level domain addresses, on behalf of the US government. It will also carry on registering .com, .net and .edu Web sites, although these will be open to competition from October 1999. In a white paper published earlier this year, the US government invited industry experts to set up a non-profit making body to manage the Internet from 1 October. But delays on reaching a consensus means that NewCo - the name of the body which which will replace a government-contracted naming authority - has not yet been approved. As part of its extended contract, Network Solutions will have to make its database of registrations available to competitors. It must also cut its prices and develop a shared registration system so that rival registries can access its root server.
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