Developers gain access to .tel domain

The .tel domain is aimed at building up an internet directory of businesses and individuals

Telnic, the registry for the new .tel sponsored top level domain (TLD), today announced it is releasing resources for developers to create applications and web services around the domain.

The .tel domain is aimed at building up an internet directory of business and individual user contact information.

It differs from other TLDs because, rather than storing IP addresses for web servers, it links directly to content and information stored on the DNS, according to Telnic.

As such, .tel will allow users to publish contact details, links and keywords to the internet under their own domain in real time, in a format that can be viewed on any device and viewed only by those they wish, said Telnic communications director Justin Hayward.

Telnic has already written plug-ins for the BlackBerry address book, Microsoft Outlook and Windows Mobile, as well as an iPhone application. These apps integrate with the address book and dynamically update information stored in a .tel owner's domain, according to Telnic.

The firm is hoping that by releasing white papers, toolkits, APIs, a developer forum and the .tel code base, it will encourage the developer community to create compelling apps for businesses.

"Finally IP guys have something positive to say: there's no web hosting required, anyone in marketing or customer services can manage it, and the information in your domain is refreshed at the speed of the DNS," said Hayward.