The Hindu Business Line : NIXI to be registrar for .in domain

TO give an impetus to the use of India's domain name, the Government has decided to make the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) the registrar of the .(dot)in domain. The function used to be with the National Centre for Software Technology (NCST), a scientific research and development institution under the Ministry of Information Technology.

In order to meet international standards, NIXI is partnering with companies that have expertise in domain registrations. The exchange has invited an expression of interest from international companies, which will become technical partners of NIXI on a revenue-sharing basis. The exchange has set a target of registering 2.5 lakh .in domain names in the first three years compared to 6,600 .IN names at present.

Once NIXI takes over the registrar's function, the procedures will be simplified and users could get a .in domain within a matter of few hours. "Internationally, country-specific domain names like .uk for United Kingdom and .sg for Singapore, are registered online for a minimum fee and within a few hours. NIXI will also aim to do the same for India," said a Senior Government official.

NIXI was set up by the Government in association with the Internet service providers (ISPs) to keep India-specific traffic within the country. Prior to setting up the exchange, ISPs had to take international lease line circuits to connect to the servers located in the US, which increased the cost of operations.

The Government is also looking at expanding NIXI's portfolio to undertake all types of Net services.

The exchange has three nodes in Noida, Mumbai and Chennai. The fourth node in Kolkata is expected to be made operational shortly.