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Lawyers, physicians, and accountants are on their way to having exclusive Internet real estate, replete with added security and a premium price tag, now that RegistryPro has signed a contract to operate the new ".pro" top-level domain name, the company says Wednesday.

The New York registry says that it signed a contract with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to offer the first TLD reserved for professionals and that comes with a digital certificate, certifying the domain name holder's credentials.

The new domain name is set to launch at the end of this year or early next year, pending approval by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the company says.

The .pro TLD is one of seven new top-level domains selected by ICANN for addition to the Internet's domain name system.

Although the exact price of a .pro address has yet to be set, the company is considering a retail price of between $250 and $300, a RegistryPro spokesperson says. Although this price is roughly 10 times more than a generic TLD such as ".com," the spokesperson notes that customers are also getting a security product with their TLD.

More Secure

The .pro digital certificates will allow users to verify their identity in an electronic exchange and can enable other security measures such as encryption and digital signature services, the company says. RegistryPro believes that the secure domain will facilitate the sending of sensitive communications, such as legal documents and medical records.

RegistryPro hopes to make .pro an industry standard for professionals and plans to establish an advisory board to decide on professional eligibility requirements needed to obtain a .pro domain name.

The company plans to use an automated verification system to check applicants' credentials. Although .pro will be a global address, the domain will only be available in countries where RegistryPro is able to verify applicants' credentials, the company says.

The registry says that it hopes to eventually expand the .pro address to include other professions.

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