The Internet landscape will get a new look, as ICANN gave a favorable vote to the recommendation of extending the range of domain names on the Internet. A final version of the new system is expected to become available by early 2009.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers took the most important decision in the last 40 years regarding the expansion of Internet during a meeting held in Paris this week.

Dr. Paul Tworney, President and CEO of ICANN, officially announced that the Board agreed with the proposal of implementing new names to the Internet, which he said will pave the way for an expansion of domain name choice and opportunity.

The Board still needs to approve the final version of the implementation before the process is launched. According to ICANN, the final version should be ready and published in early 2009.

The new set of regulations will offer a whole new range of options for domain names, in addition to the 21 top level domains available at the moment, such as .com, .org. or .info we’re all familiar with.

According to the proposal, applicants will be able to select new domain names to better suit their customers’ needs or those that are potentially the most marketable.

Companies will now have the possibility to use their own brand as domain name, and even cities could have their own top level domains (i.e. .nyc for New York City or .paris for Paris).

As Dr. Twomey said, the potential is huge, it’s a new way for people to express themselves on the Net and it’s also a massive increase in the “real estate” of the Internet.

As for a pricing plan, ICANN said they won’t be "selling" the new names, but offer a limited application period, where applications received will go through an evaluation process.

ICANN will also establish an objection-based mechanism for trademark owners where their arguments for protection will be taken into consideration.

Offensive names will be submitted to the same objection-based process based on public morality and order, ICANN added.

Things will not stop here with domain names, as ICANN is also working on expanding the system to support other languages in the world. The system, which now supports 37 Roman characters, is intended to break cultural boundaries and make domain names available in multiple alphabets.