The Internet Society (ISOC) was launched in January 1992 to "provide assistance and support to groups and organizations involved in the use, operation, and evolution of the Internet". Initially it was envisaged as a professional society supporting development of the Internet as a global research communications infrastructure, led by key luminaries Vint Cerf, Bob Kahn and Lyman Chapin.

Not surprisingly, the purpose of ISOC has subsequently evolved as the Internet has become near-ubiquitous.

Names Beyond is a US-based ICANN-accredited registrar offering online identity protection and domain management services. The company has systems dispersed in India, South East Asia and Canada, as well as North America. We spoke to their founder, President and CEO Uma Murali.

Q: Your company became accredited in December 2005, making you one of the most recently contracted .aero registrars. What made you decide to offer .aero?

One of the earliest supporters of the project to provide the air transport community with its own Internet top level domain was the FAI - the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale - otherwise known as The World Air Sports Federation

Today a growing number of Federation members are enjoying the three core benefits of using the .aero suffix. First, it immediately identifies an aviation industry focus and increases visibility, particularly when set against the "noise" generated by 30 million .com and .org domains.

At the last .aero council (DAC) meeting on June 6th, it was recommended that SITA release 3-letter airport codes (location identifiers) and the currently reserved special industry and other reserved domain names for registration by eligible members of the aviation community on a first-come-first-served basis.

This is a last chance for airports to secure their 3-letter codes, which have been reserved exclusively for airport use since 2002.

When the Internet Protocol was first developed, a crowd of networks evolved beginning with the US Government-funded ARPANET. Ultimately they were linked together to create what we know today as the Internet. From the outset, no-one owned the Internet.

The .aero domain continues to offer a unique service to the industry, providing an exclusive top level domain as a development platform for innovative Internet-based services that use the well-established aviation naming and coding conventions.

Through 2006, there was a significant increase in registrants - 2,175 at 31 December 31, compared with around 1,800 a year earlier. This was undoubtedly helped by the success of the agreement with Afilias to provide registry services, signed at the very end of 2005 and implemented through 2006.