Dutch firm launches Net address system

AMSTERDAM -- A Dutch company has launched a new Internet addressing service that does away with common top-level domains (TLD), such as .com and .edu, and allows Internet addresses to end with the name of a business or virtually any other word.

Amsterdam-based UnifiedRoot S&M BV said it has set up 13 master root servers around the world to run its Domain Name System, which will run "in parallel" with the principal Internet DNS run by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

UnifiedRoot said it doesn't plan to register domains that are already registered by Marina Del Rey, Calif.-based ICANN.

The effort requires cooperation from Internet service providers, which must update DNS server directories in order for them to include UnifiedRoot's DNS servers. Without that service provider help, end users would have to reconfigure individual PCs to recognize the UnifiedRoot TLDs.