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    Internet Considering New Naming
Scheme 03/02/95 LONDON, ENGLAND, 1995
MAR 2 (NB) -- Internet users
struggling to get their minds around
the often complicated addresses used
on the global computer network may
have a new problem soon - most of the
advertised addresses could change.

    As the Internet grows rapidly,
companies are registering domain
names. These are often the last two
or three parts of an electronic-mail
address that include the company name
and type of organization, such as
newsbytes.com or compuserve.com.
Currently each country around the
world tacks a two letter country code
on the end of addresses except the
United States which uses seven "top
level" domains, such as "com" for
commercial organizations and "edu"
for universities.

    Multinational companies, defined
as those with offices in more than
one country, are also allowed to use
the US domains so they don't have a
country code in their e-mail address.
This has lead to massive expansion in
the "com" domain as more and more
companies register names. Some may
not even be connected to the
Internet, but they want to register
now to avoid someone else snapping up
the name they want, as has happened
recently with "mcdonalds.com" and
"mtv.com."  Even though the addresses
can often look complicated, the
computers on the Internet don't use
them -- they convert them into a
numerical format and use that to
route packages of data around the
world. This means that before any
message is sent or connection made,
your computer must connect to a
computer known as a "name server"
than returns the numerical code
needed.

    There are a lot of codes to be
searched through. The full number of
Internet domains just passed 32,000
but the more significant number is
the amount of host computers on the
Internet. This is a count of the
individually numbered computers
connected through the 32,000
companies. That figure is 1,316,966 -
- a 132% increase in 1994 and a 25%
increase in the final quarter of last
year.

    All this has led to the "com"
part of the name servers getting
overloaded and this has slowed up the
system -- not by much, but the delay
is growing each day. Now Internet
users are considering splitting the
"com" domain into two or more to ease
the load.

    Options include a "com.us" domain
for companies with offices in the
United States only or even a simple
halfway split into a "com1" and
"com2" domain. European Internet
users are considering a transnational
"eu" domain for companies that span
Europe, but have offices nowhere
else.

    Spokesmen at leading UK Internet
providers Pipex and EUnet told
Newsbytes that discussions were at an
early stage and no decisions had been
made yet, but they were confident
that any change would be technically
easy even if users took a while to
get used to it.

    (Martyn Williams/19950302)



     Baby Bells Lobby Over Internet
02/22/95 WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A.,
1995 FEB 22 (NB) -- The regional Bell
operating companies are taking their
lobbying campaign for
telecommunications law reform to the
Internet. The Alliance for
Competitive Communications has a
World Wide Web home page that is a
doorway to be group's Internet site,
known as "bell.com."

    The home page features updates on
the policy debate, copies of the
relevant bills, including both the
Pressler Republican draft and the
Hollings Democratic draft in the
Senate, news releases and press
information, and other legislative
information. The site also has
pointers to other government and
communications-related internet
sites, including the Library of
Congress's Thomas home page of
legislative information and the home
pages for the House and set.

    "The Internet is the town hall of
the 90s," says Gary McBee, chairman
of the alliance, made up of the seven
Baby Bells. "We believe bell.com
provides a convenient place for all
Internet users -- including
journalists, government employees and
others -- to quickly find documents
relevant to this important debate."

    McBee says he believes that the
Internet will become a major source
of online information for press and
policy makers. The alliance began its
Internet site last year. "Interest in
bell.com was much greater than we
expected last year," says Jeff
Richards, project director for the
alliance. "More than 150,000
documents were downloaded from
bell.com and many users sent us
messages about how useful it was to
them."

    For this year, the site not only
offers a Web home page, but also a
listserver, or electronic mailing
list, that will enable subscribers to
get timely updates. To subscribe,
send and e-mail message to
listserver@ bell.com with this
message: SUBSCRIBE BELL YOUR
FIRSTNAME YOUR LASTNAME.

    The site is also available by
gopher or through anonymous ftp (File
Transfer Protocol). To reach the web
site, type http://bell.com.

    (Kennedy Maize/19950222/Press
Contact: Bill McCloskey, 202-463-
4129, Internet e-mail
[e-mail])

     Survey - E-Mail Here, But Fax
Lives 03/01/95 NORWELL,
MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1995 MAR 1
(NB) -- Electronic-mail is here to
stay, but fax will live on, too --
and increasingly, the two forms of
messaging will be integrated with
voice in "universal mailboxes,"
according to a new survey from BIS
Strategic Decisions.

    At present, almost three-quarters
of users say that "intracompany e-
mail" does not impact their fax
traffic, and more than 85 percent
report that e-mail with other
companies do not affect the amount of
faxes sent and received, explained
Judy Pirani, director of Image
Communications Systems for BIS, in an
interview with Newsbytes.

    Soon, concepts like faxing and e-
mail will start to be replaced in
users' minds with the more
generalized notion of "messaging,"
Pirani predicted.

    Microsoft Exchange will
incorporate a "unified" messaging
interface, and Apple has rolled a
similar capability into System 7.5
through PowerTalk, she pointed out.

    "A few years ago, the Electronic
Mail Association showed a lot of
foresight in changing its name to the
Electronic Messaging Association,"
the researcher observed.

    The BIS study also showed that,
in the fax arena, users are moving
more into computer-based fax, even
though they are continuing to buy fax
machines, according to Pirani.

    In fact, people are sending more
faxes than ever before, as well as
slightly longer faxes, she added.
Moreover, about 44 percent of the
survey respondents said that they
intend to purchase additional fax
machines, with the price of the
machine ranking as the most
significant consideration in the
choice of the model.

    "Fax machines and computer fax
are being used for different
purposes," the BIS analyst noted. Fax
machines are being utilized for fax
broadcasting, as well as for sending
documents that are not computer-
generated, she maintained.

    As might be expected, inter-
company (between company) faxes
accounted for nearly two-thirds of
all faxes sent, according to the
survey.

    "We also looked into new
technologies like {SHIFT-*}multi-functional
fax machines,' or fax machines that
can also copy or print," Newsbytes
was told. For these newer kinds of
machines, BIS found the greatest
degree of interest among users in the
SOHO (small office/home office)
market, the analyst noted.

    Pirani added that most users of
computer fax who took part in the BIS
survey were users of PC fax boards,
as opposed to networked fax servers.
The respondents included 150
individuals in three market segments:
small businesses (under 100
employees); medium-sized businesses
(100 to 499 employees); and large
businesses (over 500 employees).

    (Jacqueline Emigh/19950301/Reader
Contact: BIS Strategic Decisions,
617-982-9500; Press Contact: Martha
Popoloski, BIS, 617-982-9500)


    CompuServe Revenues Up 35.5%; 2.7
Million Members 03/01/95 COLUMBUS,
OHIO, U.S.A., 1995 MAR 1 (NB) -- In a
report of its third quarter earnings,
CompuServe announced its revenues
were $154.2 million, up 35.5% from
$113.7 million for the same quarter
last year. Both its consumer
division, CompuServe Information
service, and its Network Services
Division contribute to the record
earnings.

    The company's pre-ta