Hong Kong, HK Economic Journal, 4 September 2000 -- The i-DNS technology as developed by i-DNS.net can translate ASCII scripted texts in languages like Chinese or Japanese, for example, into UTF-5 encoding only if processed by i-DNS-compatible servers. As such, until prior to an agreement with NSI, only registrants who have registered with i-DNS registrars (who operates such servers) can adopt non-English domain names. In Hong Kong, for example, only HKNet is equipped with an i-DNS compatible server and users of other servers would not be able to utilize non-English domain names.

However, after agreements with NSI, the translation process can now be executed in global servers under the charge of NSI, which dispense with the registrar's need to install an i-DNS-compatible server. Users of other servers can now use non-English domain names.

However, the Asian-Pacific GM of NSI Mr Zhang Ziheng stressed that the cooperation with i-DNS is still experimental and NSI has but employed only part of the i-DNS technology. This is the reason why it is only possible now to register a domain name like [www..com]. However, to be able to register for a fully non-English domain name like [] will still be contingent on support from ISPs around the world.

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