Following its recent decision to create several new Internet domains before the end of 2000, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers on Thursday will unveil the application criteria for companies and organizations.

Following its recent decision to create several new Internet domains before the end of 2000, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers on Thursday will unveil the application criteria for companies and organizations seeking to operate the new online neighborhoods. Following a weeklong meeting in Yokohama, Japan, ICANN's powerful board of directors unanimously adopted a timeline for creating the first new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) since the advent of .com, .org and .net. Under the finalized schedule, companies and organizations interested in operating the new Internet domains will have until October to submit proposals for their creation to the ICANN board. Rather than naming the new domains itself, ICANN is calling on would-be Internet registries to come up with and defend their proposed names for the new gTLDs. On Thursday, ICANN intends to post the application forms and criteria for the proposals. Under the resolution adopted by the ICANN Board in Yokohama, organizations will have to plunk down a non-refundable fee of $50,000 for the privilege of applying to become an operator of one of the new domains. Following the decision, some ICANN critics called the proposed application fee exorbitant, speculating that the ICANN staff could ratchet down the cost before it posted the application criteria. Following a public comment period, ICANN will approve an as-yet undetermined number of the new domain proposals, clearing the way for the chosen domains to be added to the legacy or "A" root server that is at the heart of the Internet's domain name system (DNS). Under the finalized schedule, which holds fairly true to a timeline proposed by the ICANN staff earlier this year, the ICANN board will announce its final selections before the end of December.