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Attention Technology Reporters:

Namescout Joins Dot-US Trail-Blazers - Fast-Growing Registrar Now Accepting Bookings for "America's Internet Address"

Wilmington, DE / Feb 18, 2002 - Namescout.com, one of the world's fastest-growing domain
registrars, is among the first domain registrars named as channel partners in the new
dot-US registry.  Dot-US is the official country code for the USA, and under a new registry
system officially sponsored by the US Department of Commerce, will become much more widely
available in the next few weeks.

Namescout.com started accepting bookings for dot-US names on January 13.  Bookings are
available online at www.namescout.com.
 
"Based on the demand we have seen over the last month, it is our belief that dot-US is
going to be one of the largest extensions - possibly THE largest - on the Internet,"
said Rob Hall, President and CEO of Namescout.com.  "It is a great way for businesses,
organizations and individuals to say they are 'proudly American.'"

Dot-US gives U.S. residents, government entities, public service organizations, and
businesses the ability to establish an American identity on the Internet with a short,
memorable domain name (e.g. johnsmith.us, publicservice.us, mycompany.us).  Any U.S.
citizen or resident, as well as any business or organization, including federal, state,
and local government, with a bona fide presence in the United States can register a dot-US
domain name. 

"Each new domain space which opens up (such as dot-biz, dot-name, dot-info, dot-ca, and
now dot-US) attracts a long line of people wishing to be among the first to book the best
names in the new space," said Hall.  "The new dot-US domain gives people a lot more choice
than the dot-com space, where over 24 million of the best domain names have already been
registered."   

"With over 100 million Americans using the Internet, demand for dot-US will be especially
intense.  We are delighted to be among the first companies in the world offering this new
identity," concluded Hall.

Namescout.com and its affiliated companies have long been at the forefront of Internet
development.  ICANN-accredited Namescout.com offers full customer service and a full suite
of domain registration services.  It was recently ranked by the authoritative State of the
Domain report as one of the world's fastest-growing registrars, and is now among the world's
top 50 registrars.  Namescout.com was recently accredited as the world's first dot-name
registrar,and has been provisionally accredited by the Australian Domain Authority (auDA)
in the first wave of new dot-au registrars.  Sister company Internic.ca was Canada's first
dot-ca accredited registrar and is now Canada's leading dot-ca registrar.  Owned by
Ottawa-based Momentous.ca, Namescout.com and Internic.ca serve customers around the globe
from offices in North America and the Caribbean.  They are the world's only registrar group
simultaneously accredited by ICANN, CIRA, auDA and the Global Name Registry. 


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For more information, or to arrange a
media interview, please visit www.namescout.com or contact Lisa McAdam at lisa@namescout.com
or 613.715.3544