News Burst: ICANN adds seven domain registrars

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has accredited seven new registrars and included them in its test bed for the ".com", ".net" and ".org" domains. The seven newcomers are CommuniTech.Net, Gandi.Net, iDirections, InterNeXt, ProBoard Technologies PSI-USA and Signature Domains.

The companies join five existing registrars that have been participating in the domain-name test bed set up by ICANN to perfect a central registry system. The test bed phase, which has been extended several times, ends Sept. 10. The new companies are rushing in to end Network Solution's monopoly on ".com", ".net" and ".org" domain registration, which was originally granted by the National Science Foundation in 1992.