Companies to pay a bundle for new domain names

The world of domain names is expanding, and in a short time, you'll be able to buy a domain name and have exclusive use of it. Companies like IBM and HP will shell out lots of money to get suffixes like .IBM and .HP that will supplant .com, .gov, .org and the handful of other suffixes already on the Internet. You will also see generic domains, too, such as .realtor, .green and .hospital.

But it's not cheap. The application fee will be $185,000, payable to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the nonprofit global traffic overseer of Internet assignment matters. If too many people apply for the same suffix, ICANN will decide the most logical winner.

ICANN is expected to formally approve the initiative later this year and begin accepting proposals for custom domains in the first six months of next year. So if you have always wanted your own John Hancock on the Internet, for your specialty company, you might just be able to get it. But get ready for the influx of those expanding domain names and the cost of grabbing your own domain name.

For more on expanding domain names:
- check out this Washington Post article

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