Emergent Wins Domain Name Contract

Emergent Corp. won a contract to add seven new Internet domain names including .arts and .firm, giving companies more flexibility in setting up their online addresses. Domain names are labels such as .com and .org used to define online identities. The new addresses include .info, .nom, .rec, .store and .web, making a total of 13 such suffixes in addition to 29 country codes. The new addresses will help relieve some of the pressure on popular names and let businesses and computer users create more descriptive locations. Internet users will be able to go to addresses using the new names in the first quarter of 1998, although companies can begin registering for names now, said Curt Mayer, Emergent’s chief technologist. Closely held San Mateo-based Emergent signed a contract with the Internet Council of Registrars, known as Core, to build and maintain the directory of new names. Core is a group of 83 companies and organizations that are responsible for registering Internet names. It costs about $50 a year to register an Internet name, Mayer said. Herndon, Va.-based Network Solutions Inc. has the exclusive right to register .com, .net and .org.