Registration opens to the government and registered companies tomorrow, Tuesday, October 9th.

Hostway is today advising companies that the first registration period for the new .Asia name officially opens tomorrow. With the potential to be the largest country-code top level domain name, .Asia is aimed at residents and organisations within the Asia-Pacific region and companies wishing to trade with this region. The first "sunrise" period, which begins on the 9th of October, enables registered trademark holders and government bodies to register their interest in a certain .Asia domain name.
 
Hostway is taking advantage of this potential by opening pre-registration for .Asia immediately, allowing people to sign up for their specific domain name before the official registration period opens. The .Asia name is not intended to replace existing country-specific names, but rather to complement them and to help companies establish a pan-Asian presence on the web.

Dot Asia, the organisation administrating the domain name is running several "sunrise" periods whereby holders of valid trademarks and company names can register early for their domain names in order to avoid cyber squatters and protect their brand identities. The second set of sunrise periods, aimed at other registered names, such as company names, begins on November 13th and closes on January 15th. The "landrush" period (to be confirmed) begins in February 2008, and is aimed at allowing the general public to register their interest before the "live registration" period in March.

Unlike previous ccTLD releases, competing applications for identical .asia domain names will be settled by online auction managed directly by the registry, and not on the usual 'first come first served' basis. It is hoped this will lead to a fairer initial distribution of names to those who want them the most.

Hostway is offering one-year registrations for the .asia domain name at £9.95 with a one-off administration fee of £54.95, as well as a £2.95 yearly proxy service fee for companies based outside of the Asia-Pacific region.

"As the largest top-level domain name release for several years, companies are faced with both an opportunity and a challenge," said Thomas Herbert, product manager, Hostway. "With 60% of the world population living in the Asia-Pacific region, and over 400 million Internet users, the .Asia domain name is bound to be a success. Furthermore, with global brands such as Google investing strongly in this area – exemplified by its acquisition of a stake in Chinese social networking site Tianya – the Asian market is seeing significant potential for growth at the moment. When you also consider the huge numbers of businesses in the rest of the world targeting the Asian market, the potential for the domain name is vast."

"We've already had over a hundred enquiries about the domain name, and we're expecting a fair amount of competition for registration for .Asia names," Herbert continued. "People do need to beware of unofficial vendors offering pre-registrations as they could miss out, or be ripped off. This is a great opportunity for people to establish their presence as a pan-Asian entity, and companies who don't register for their domain name are effectively gambling with their brand identity."