.Asia goes live today. This is an extract from the DotAsia Organisation press release:

Hong Kong, 26 March 2008 - DotAsia Organisation announces Go Live of the ".Asia" registry, signifying the start of first-come-first-served registrations, allowing anyone around the world to get their .Asia domain instantaneously. "With over 10 million domains registered in China alone and over 150 million worldwide, the potential for .Asia is only now starting to be realized. There are millions of great .Asia domains still available on a first-come-first-served basis," says Edmon Chung, CEO of DotAsia.

During the earlier Sunrise and Landrush phases, .Asia already received over 500,000 domain registration applications. About 45,000 domains received more than one application, and will go to auction. This proved to be successful in reducing the chaos created in previous domain launches as registrants clamour for high value domains.

"The .Asia launch has demonstrated a management team committed to balancing the protection of rights while encouraging demand and adoption," says Peter Dengate Thrush, Chairman of ICANN. "The success of the .Asia launch will pave the way and set a new benchmark for future top-level-domain launches."