Start of .SO General Availability with Key-Systems

Leesburg, VA, March 30, 2011 --(PR.com)-- The introduction process for the Somali domain extension .SO will be completed with the start of General Availability on April 1. From then on, domain names can be registered following the "first-come, first served" principle. In addition to .SO, three other domain extensions are available: .COM.SO, which aims especially at commercial entities, .NET.SO for networks and .ORG.SO for non-profit organizations. “Many memorable .SO domain names are still available,” says Key-Systems’ CEO Alexander Siffrin. “At the start of General Availability, you have the highest chance to register the desired domain name first.”

The policy for the TLD .SO is liberal, there are no restrictions concerning the registrants, no local presence service is needed. The registration period for domains registered during General Availability has to be at least one year and maximum ten years. .SO domain names must be made up of a minimum of 3 characters and a maximum of 63 characters (excluding the extension). Only the Latin alphabet letters a-z, digits, and hyphens will be accepted.

Domain names beginning or ending with hyphens, as well as domain names with hyphens on the third and fourth position are prohibited. Technical operator of .SO is the Japanese company GMO Registry, for the operative tasks the Somali SO registry is responsible. The “sponsoring organization” of the TLD is the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications of Somalia.

Key-Systems is an international, ICANN accredited registrar, which currently administers more than 3 million domains for more than 70,000 retail and corporate customers and 1,700 resellers worldwide. The company with 54 employees is the second largest ICANN registrar in Europe and one of the 15 largest in the world (Source: webhosting.info). Key-Systems' headquarters are located in St. Ingbert/Germany. Furthermore, the company runs two subsidiaries in the USA and Mexico and owns a majority interest in the Polish registrar AZ.pl.

Via the end customer portal domaindiscount24.com and the reseller portal RRPproxy.net, customers are currently able to register domain names with more than 280 different top-level- and second-level extensions fully automated. Furthermore, Key-Systems is able to realize any TLD worldwide on customer's request. The corporate domain portal BrandShelter.com offers companies the worldwide registration of domains with all available extensions and a comprehensive online brand protection.

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