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By Polly Raymond, 21 October 1998 00:20

NEWS Network Solutions - the US registrar of Internet domain names - has recruited 13 European Internet Service Providers (ISPs) into a service programme that should give their customers a 'fast track' to obtaining .com Web site addresses. The 13 are based in the UK, France, the Netherlands, and Spain. Demon Internet, Name City and UUNet are involved from the UK, CTV and RAN Internet from Spain, Le Serveur from France and Vuurwerk from the Netherlands, to name a few. The scheme gives these ISPs high priority when applying to Network Solutions - the only issuer of global domain names - for URLs on behalf of their home and business customers. It means that businesses applying for the 'holy grail' of domain name endings, .com, will have a greater chance of success. Nick Jones, a representative of Name City, the first ISP to sign up with the programme, said being involved in the programme will bring his ISP more kudos and will ease the process of applying for and managing these domain names. "It can be a bit of a headache looking after these names but this programme will allow us to offer a better service to customers," he said. His only concern is that Network Solutions are still not discounting his registration fees even though the number of registrations Name City is making has been rising steadily. He is hopeful this programme may lead to discounts but said: "This looks unlikely until other companies are allowed to offer top-level domain names." Network Solutions has noticed the demand for names is rising steadily in Europe. Through the programme, Network Solutions will reach into this market. Jones said: "Network Solutions is trying to make it easier for its European partners to serve customers with domain names."