"E-mail and domain names are indispensable business tools just like telephone and facsimile numbers. You cannot do business without these tools in future," Chang said, urging companies to quickly register domains in their name in order to protect their trademark and identity on the Web.

"The Net is fast running out of domain names, particularly top-level domains (TLD) such as dotcom (.com)," he warned.

Network Solutions is one of the largest registrars of domain names worldwide.

Addressing a session on `Domain Name -- Your Important Asset in Cyberspace', Chang pointed out that there are almost 10 million domains registered worldwide, at present. Of these, TLD such as .com, .net and .org account for more than 6 million registrations with .com alone accounting for over 84 per cent of the domain names. The three domains, being open network solutions, have been very popular.

Registration of domain names has registered 165 per cent compounded annual growth since 1994 and the pace of new registrations has gone up sharply in recent years. "By the end of this calender year, there should be a million registrations per month," Chang said pointing out that the first million registrations took four years.

India has been ranked 13th in the gross registration with 43,086 domain names, growing at an average rate of 23 per cent as of June 1999. The country may have moved up a few places since then, Chang reckoned.

Quoting further statistics on India, he said in June alone there have been 5,539 registrations as against 12,683 in the first quarter and 11,055 in the second quarter of the calender year. Incidentally, India was not among the top 15 countries in the list for 1998. Almost 90 per cent of the registrant opted for dotcom domains.

India, along with China and South Korea, have recorded the highest growth in registrations, Chang noted.

On protecting names, the Network Solutions Inc representative said that small- and medium-sized business houses should reserve their domain names even if they don't intend to use it immediately. "It is probably the most important investment of your company today."

His advice to large corporations is that they should protect their domain names across countries through significant operations. Further, they should protect their company names, product/services, trademark and slogans. This is necessary to prevent any disputes that could arise if anybody is found squatting on domains which should rightfully belong to that particular company.

He further stated that companies should also register domain names with search engines so that Net users know that the company has a site.