XDI.org Approves Global Service Specification, Opens i-name Registry

By Derek Iwasiuk
DomainInformer.com
June 14, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO - XDI.org, a public trust organization that serves as the governing body for development of standards for the "i-name" digital address, announces that it has approved the Global Service Specification governing how i-names are to be sold and supported, paving the way for the opening of the i-names Global Registry Service ("GRS") on June 20, 2006. Using the GRS, i-names may now be registered in the same way that domain namespaces, such as ".com" ".biz" ".uk" or ".jp" are registered with other global registry services. The GRS will open at 7:00 PM EDT, (23:00 GMT), on June 20, 2006.

When the GRS opens, two new namespaces will become available to serve as a digital address for individuals and businesses. Individuals may use the "=name" namespace as a privacy protecting alternative to sharing email addresses or telephone numbers, or as a persistent form of a digital address. Businesses, organizations or other groups may use the "@name" namespace to offer a variety of services enabled by the use of i-names. Both namespaces initially support international i-names registered using Latin, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean characters. Plans call for supporting other international character sets in the future.

"After strong acceptance of i-names in the technical community, and a very successful period of user trials, we are thrilled to approve the Global Service Specification and open the Global Registry Service to allow any business or individual to register their i-name," said Dr. Bill Washburn, Chairman of the XDI.org Board of Trustees. "In the same way that the easy registration of a domain name enabled millions of users to create websites and begin making electronic commerce a reality, the ability to register an i-name will allow businesses and individuals to begin to use identity-based services that create greater convenience and provide more personal control to the individual."

I-names are based on the XRI (Extensible Resource Identifier) digital address specifications developed by the XRI Technical Committee at OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards). More information about XDI.org and about the Global Registry Service may be found at http://www.xdi.org. More information about i-names and services that allow the use of digital addresses, can be found at http://www.inames.net.

About XDI.org

XDI.ORG was founded in July, 2000, to serve as the public steward for a body of intellectual property supporting the creation of long-term, trusted data sharing relationships over electronic networks. XDI.org works with OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards), and members of the technology community, to establish global services that facilitate interoperability and enable trusted data interchange among individuals and businesses.