The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) is conducting a number of tests to discover whether the use of international characters in domain names will have a negative effect on the web.
At present, all domain names use characters from the Roman alphabet but it is hoped that the adoption of non-standard domains will help improve the internet experience for those users who do not use English as their first language. Adoption of the new sets would also help to support the ongoing development of a single worldwide internet.
The new internationalised domain names (IDNs) will be based on a range of character sets including those available in right-to-left scripts such as Arabic and non-alphabetic scripts such as Mandarin Chinese.
So far the tests seem to have been a positive experience, explained Swiss-based tester Lars-Johan Liman.
He added: "All answers were consistent with expected behaviour, and no unexpected delays were discovered."
Icann hopes that the introduction of the IDNs will be completed by 2008 and is planning to continue assessing the new system using live root tests.
