Sometimes the heavens align. With the release of a number of resolutions from the ICANN Board on Sunday, we learnt two things:

One, that there is a determined drive to get the rules for new Internet extensions, gTLDs, finalized in December at a meeting in Cartagena. And two, that the meeting immediately after that—in March 2011—will be held in San Francisco.

And so it is with considerable excitement that I’d like to announce the first ever dedicated conference for new gTLDs: .nxt, planned for this coming February in San Francisco.

We have a dedicated website at http://dot-nxt.com and encourage anyone that is interested to register their interest online today. Among other things, you will find the initial conference agenda, and a database of those who plan to apply for a new top-level domain.

We are looking to make the site a useful space for sharing ideas and information, so if you register you will be able to start interacting with others today. And if you are a gTLD applicant, you will be able to provide information about your plans and application.

But what of the conference itself? Well, it was born from the belief that new Internet extensions represent the most exciting change to the Internet’s make-up since dot-com was opened up to competition back in 1999. It is easy to forget that while in the middle of policy and implementation decisions.

While the rules were being decided, most of the discussion about what it will mean when the top-level of the Internet is opened up to market forces has focused on fears and concerns.

But with the end in sight, it’s time to look at the opportunities and dramatic possibilities that exist in these new arms of the Internet. And the .nxt conference is perfectly placed to be of most use to everyone.

The next Internet revolution

With geo-location making the Internet increasingly personal, will city TLDs represent a new wave of how we use the Internet for finding information and doing business?

With the Internet gathering like minds together as never before, will new extensions provide a global town hall for issues such as protecting the environment or combating climate change?

Will we begin to use the domain name system to reflect our natures, our cultures, our languages, our identities?

These are questions that .nxt will ask—and you are invited to come and share your thoughts.

Implementation

But of course, that is only one side of the equation. Running a piece of the Internet’s infrastructure is neither easy nor cheap. It requires technical expertise, a global footprint, the ability to handle hundreds of thousands of look-ups every hour every day, and much else besides. That’s the back-end. At the front end, you have to allow people to register domains under your name quickly and easily and securely.

There are companies that have been doing just these jobs for years so if you are serious about wanting to be there at the start of the next Internet revolution you need to know what they know and understand just how this global network actually works.

Models

And then there are the business models. For the past decade we have all grown used to the dot-com model but with the expansion of names comes the expansion of minds: how can the process of providing addresses on the Internet be improved? What new styles and approaches will strike a chord with online users for whom the Internet is no longer a novelty but an every day part of life?

Are there new ways to reach out to people and sell space under your name? Can you offer a sense of greater security? Can you build new services onto a domain that make it more attractive? Will your domains be permanent—or disposable? When you see your name, will everyone know immediately what will appear underneath it?

Marketing

With every market you need to differentiate and provide a unique selling point. And once you have that, you then need to make sure people know about it. Without marketing your ideas and striking a chord with people, even the most brilliant plans will amount to little.

The .nxt conference will cover all these issues:

• Policy: The agreed rules and procedures behind applications
• Implementation: The practicalities of running a piece of the domain name system
• Models: The new approaches and ideas that we can expect with new Internet extensions
• Marketing: How to reach the billions of online users

It will present expert views and analysis, keynotes from leading lights of the Internet, panel sessions, workshops and an exhibition area.

It will be in downtown San Francisco in mid-February (we are finalizing dates and venue). It is being hosted by the SF Bay chapter of ISOC. There will be an attendance fee with profits going to the non-profit SF Bay ISOC and used to promote its causes. And it will be the most interesting and exciting conference you will attend in 2011.

So please register online today at http://dot-nxt.com.