Third trial domain registrar goes online.

A third registrar designated to test the competitive waters for registration of the most popular form of Internet addresses is up and running, but its chairman is complaining that "unfounded delays" on the part of Network Solutions have cost his organization up to $100,000. CORE (Internet Council of Registrars) became the third "test-bed" registrar to plug into a shared registration system designed to end NSI_s grip on registering the three types of domains, which account for well over half of all Internet addresses.For CORE chairman Ken Stubbs, however, it was a bittersweet occasion. "The happy ending is we_re up and running," Stubbs told CNET News.com. CORE, an organization of about 55 registrars from 23 countries, received final approval to go live a week ago , but a series of events prevented NSI from throwing the switch until today. The estimates assume that CORE would have sold at least 200 domain names per day since last Friday. CORE joins Register.com and Melbourne IT in successfully connecting to the shared registration system, which cost NSI $25 million to develop. The nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, appointed to assume control of the Net, has provided oversight. Register.com, the first registrar to go live, took about five weeks longer than expected to do so. The other two test-bed registrars, America Online and Oleane, a division of France Telecom, have not said when they expect to be up and running.