Whether the construction costs are worth it for the companies footing the bill is another matter. The uncertainty, however, hasn't slowed interest from groups hoping to cash in on the potential windfall that can come through doling out suffixes and setting up Web sites. Now they must pass through the U.S. Commerce Department for final approval.
Some companies say they're involved strictly for altruistic reasons.
That may well be, but groups could also cash in if they can successfully weave their way through the business nuances that distinguish companies from being a registry and being a registrar. A registry is a company that actually controls the suffixes and maintains a database of all the names issued with that suffix. The most powerful registry, Network Solutions Inc. A registrar, such as AOL Time Warner Inc., can also set up Web sites by offering a range of services, but they don't control the suffixes and have to work through the registries, offering up a slice of their annual fees in return. There are about 170 registrars, which work almost exclusively through NSI for the time being.