A new online service has been established in SA, guaranteeing users their own surnames as permanent domains.
The service, Fm.ly, launched in SA last week and expects to roll-out internationally early this year.
LY is the country code for Libya and the Fm.ly Web site is a second-level domain registered in that country.
Sean Cond'e, MD of Fm.ly, explains: "By registering a personal domain, Fm.ly clients who act quickly can own their first and last name as an e-mail address and as a Web address - for example firstname@surname.fm.ly or www.firstname.surname.fm.ly. "This is the easiest way of owning your own name on the Web," he says.
"Clients have one e-mail address for life, as well as the freedom to change service providers without losing e-mail addresses or contacts."
Cond'e explains that the new service differs from Web sites that register domains for families.
"The inherent problem with the domain structure at present is that once you register 'Smith`, no one else can utilise the domain. With our new offering, no one can own the domain smith.fm.ly, rather you own john.smith and your e-mail john@smith. In this way we guarantee that everyone has fair usage. The Smith site in the future will become a family portal site for all Smith families. In this way, we guarantee the users` last name as their domain name. The fm.ly domain is owned by ourselves as the top level for the brand."
All e-mail is forwarded from the Fm.ly site to a user`s specified current e-mail address, regardless of ISP or domain names. Cond'e says a POP option is due for release in the next few weeks.
Cond'e, who founded the company when he noticed that many people wanted personalised e-mail and domains, says: "As far as we know, the service is unique worldwide. Registering a domain through Fm.ly will prove cheaper and easier than doing it any other way."
The Family Network charges users R9.95 a month for a guaranteed domain name, e-mail address and 10MB static personal Web space.
The service is aimed at the home user, and Cond'e hopes to reach around 10% of SA`s roughly two million Internet users. "All the response we have had so far has been very positive, and we hope to break the 50 000 mark in around six months," he says.
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