Two Israeli entrepreneurs are at the heart of an Internet revolution in the Spanish-speaking world. This Tuesday, in Buenos Aires, there will be a launch party for the new domain extension: .uno, a generic top level domain reserved exclusively for Spanish speakers. Shaul Jolles and Efi Gershom, both of whom live in Kansas City, obtained the franchise for the .uno domain extension from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the organization that gives out domain names on the Internet. In an effort to increase the inventory of Internet web site addresses, ICANN had allowed companies and individuals to submit proposals for new generic top level domains. The entrepreneurial duo identified what they perceived as a need. The awakening markets of South America and Spanish speakers in the United States needed an Internet domain extension just for them, one exclusive to their language and culture. Uno is a snappy and meaningful word in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, as it means the number one and implies "first" and "the best." It was not easy to receive the domain extension. The Israeli entrepreneurs had to meet ICANN's stringent criteria. Submitting the request took time, resources and a large financial investment. Each proposal had to explain the purpose of the new domain extension, how it will help Internet users and how the entrepreneurs intend to maintain it. In addition, because each such suffix is at the center of the global information superhighway, they had to meet stringent technical demands to prevent security breeches to the global Internet infrastructure. Even before .uno's official launch, U.S. companies interested in South American markets have already purchased .uno domain names. "A lot of companies are interested in Brazil," said Jolles, "which has a rapidly growing economy with many local opportunities." GoDaddy.com, the world's largest company selling domain names, is featuring .uno prominently on its website. It will sell a domain name with the extension for $40. Out of this, Jolles and Gershom get a significant percentage. The project was funded mainly by Jolles, a tech entrepreneur with several startups under his belt and a number of technological incubators throughout the U.S. Gershom, meanwhile, has been an Internet entrepreneur for more than 20 years.
