Taipei will be one of the first cities around the world to have its own domain name, enabling local businesses and residents to start using the “.taipei” domain name next year, the Taipei City Government announced yesterday.
The city’s petition for the creation of a special suffix was approved earlier this month by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the California-based non-profit organization responsible for managing the Domain Name System and Internet Protocol addresses.
Taipei will be one of 52 cities to have their own domain names, along with New York, London, Paris, Berlin and Tokyo.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said the approval for the city to use “.taipei” is a recognition of the city’s development of information technology, and a great marketing measure to put the city on the digital landscape.
“The ‘.taipei’ domain name is a specific doorplate for Taipei. We are very excited to be able to use the Taipei suffix so our city can be more easily recognized in the online world,” he said.
The city government must still run tests of the new domain name and finalize a contractor to manage the program.
Taipei Department of Information Technology Commissioner Chan Te-tsun (詹德存) said the overall operation and maintenance costs for the new domain name will be about US$60,000 per year, including a US$25,000 registration fee to the ICANN.
The city will first change the Web address of city agencies next year, before opening the use of the domain to businesses and residents.
Taipei 101 Mall and Asustek Computer have expressed support for the city’s move, and said they will register for the domain next year.
Taipei 101 spokesman Michael Liu (劉家豪) said the company is in the process of redesigning its Web site, and it expected to change the site’s address from Taipei-101.com.tw to Taipei101.taipei.
The city said the detailed plan for the domain registration will be finalized later this year.
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