EuroDNS, announced today that it is now accepting applications for the first new gTLD to go live - .SHABAKA,which means "Internet" in Arabic.

 

You can read the press release after the jump:

"EuroDNS, an ICANN accredited registrar, currently offer their customers over 350 domain extensions and is fully committed to offering all the new gTLDs as they open for registration .???? is currently in its Sunrise period, the phase during which trademark holders can register the domain name matching their brand.

Anouar Adlani, EuroDNS CTO, has been working with his team to get everything prepared for the arrival of the new gTLDs, said, “The entire company is buzzing with excitement about this new landmark in Internet history. This new domain will begin knocking down the language barriers, and as a multilingual company this is especially significant.”

In 2011, ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) introduced the new gTLD program, “To increase competition, choice and consumer trust online.” The release of IDNs (Internationalized Domain Names) was prioritized to further open up the Internet to a more international audience. Arabic is the fifth most spoken language in the world with over 380 million people in the MENA region, the launch of .SHABAKA opens up the Internet to over 120 million Arab Internet users.

Each time a new gTLD launches it first enters a ‘Sunrise period’ during which trademark owners can protect their brand against online infringement. Trademark owners need to have their trademark registered with the TMCH (Trademark Clearinghouse) to benefit from this initial period. Sunrise for .SHABAKA runs from now until December 29. Brand owners with a non-Arabic trademark will be able to register the transliteration of their name during the Landrush period and General Availability beginning in January and February.