Directi to set up internet domain registry

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Mumbai-based Directi, the tenth largest domain name registrar, is planning to set up its own Internet domain name registry.

“We are also looking at multilingual domain names, which are the future of the Internet,” Bhavin Turakia, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Directi told CyberMedia News.

“Unavailability of local language domain names has been an impediment of growth of the Internet both within and outside India. There is a bigger opportunity in countries such as France, Russia, and Germany for the language domain names. It is a totally untapped market. In another five to seven years, language domain names will become as common as dotcom is now,” he said.

Turakia, however, said that there are challenges in launching Indian language domain names.

Some of the major concerns include that of intellectual property and brand image.

"And in terms of communication, there are also challenges of bridging and translation. The true success will be when the domain named is enabled to be typed phonetically, before the mass adoption,” he opined.

Directi is the first Indian ICANN-accredited registrar to be included in the Government of India’s initiative to launch Indian language domain names.

The company is now actively involved in participating with the government process and building technology to evolve the process.

The company will also roll out Instant messenger, email anti-spam, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and video conferencing products.

These will be targeted at specific kinds of audiences in the SOHO and SME segment.

The products will be launched in the market in a year or two in phases, Turakia said.

The company is also looking at increasing its headcount by another 900 people by next year and to 1400 people by end-2009.

Directi will stay focused on tier-1 cities in South India, by expanding its presence in Chennai and Bangalore.