‘Dot Dubai & Expo 2020’ seminar to be held at Dubai on March 12 (featuring .dubai and .abudhabi)

Experts will throw light on generic top level domains (GTLDs) – which represent the biggest revolution since the inception of the Internet – at a one-day seminar titled ‘Dot Dubai & Expo 2020’ (www.azna.com) to be held at Madinat Jumeirah Dubai on March 12.

Taking .dubai and .abudhabi as key GTLDs that will drive the country’s branding towards Expo 2020, the forum will demonstrate how GLTDs would change the landscape of global ecommerce and bring zillions of new name identities, with a particular focus on the Arab world.

Naseem Javed, author of ‘Domination, the GTLD Name Game’, founder of ABC Namebank International, world-renowned lecturer and expert on corporate naming issues, will be the seminar leader and moderator.

Chaired by Robert T. Stacey, CEO of the Association for Advancement of Relationship Marketing (AARM), the forum will feature the following panelists: Manish Gupta, CEO, EDS; Dina Abo-Onoq, Chairman, ICC; Tooba Ghafoor, Fashion Brands; Kamran Hafeez, MD, GEO & Jung; Sophia Bekele, CEO, Dot Africa; Rolf Larsen, CEO, Dot Global; Qusai Al-Shatti, Deputy Chairman, Kuwait Information Technology; Saqr Ahmed Mohamed, Head, People Excellence, Executive Council of Dubai; Ammar Al Mazrooei, Director, Government Innovation, Dubai Cabinet Affairs; Jack Abdi, Managing Director, Provectus; Mahmood Khan, Head, Regional Business, Ghadeer-Al Tayer and David Macadam, CEO & Vice Chairman, MECSC-ICSC.

The forum assumes major importance to the UAE and the region, because from January 2014, ICANN, the governing body of the Internet has started rolling out an army of some 1500 new GTLDs ranging from .wine and .cheese to .rockets and .stones. The entire list can be viewed at www.icann.org. This revolutionary and rebellious force is poised to change the landscape of global ecommerce forever.

“This is a time for businesses and governments to fully understand the concept of GTLD if they wish to remain relevant and dominant,” says Naseem Javed. “Those who grab this opportunity and take the right cyber name will reap rich benefits and march ahead of the competition. That is why this seminar is highly critical at this point in time.”

“There are hundreds of GTDLs such as .home, .car, .shop, .insurance, .mortgage, .halal, .fashion, .dubai and .abudhabi that are set to come into cyberspace. Starting January 2014, at the rate of 10 per week, these different owners of new and exotic GTLDs will be allowed to retail unlimited domain name extensions on a first-come basis for nominal prices. This represents the biggest domain name expansion since the invention of the Internet,” added Naseem Javed.

There are power brands that have purchased their own names as a suffix. For example, Canon acquired dot-canon and such players will have a distinct advantage over competitors as they will flex their muscle and explore new frontiers. Others who missed may have to wait another 3-5 years when the next window of applications reopens. Hundreds of generic and dictionary words like dot cake, or dot shoes will the most powerful trading hotspots all over the world.

Some 50 City brands like .dubai, .abudhabi, .paris and .berlin will create their own amazing landscape to support their local populations and showcase their global cyber access and city-branding stature.

SMEs too have a large stake in this revolution. There are some 100 million SMEs all over the world, which never had the real opportunity to secure high value dotcoms and create cute and simple name brands. Now suddenly they can secure right name combinations to serve their needs and this will hugely impact global trade and distribution.

“Today, picking a cyber address is an extremely complex issue that requires extensive experience and well defined expertise. Companies need to understand the difference between professional and amateurish naming, learn the various methodologies and types and styles of naming, create a balanced logical approach and eliminate random name selection. We plan to highlight all these issues at this seminar,” said Naseem Javed.