Today, Nominet has announced its plan to proceed with the shorter .uk domain extension following its second consultation period. The change will be the most significant advancement to the .uk domain market ever and will allow more than 10 million existing customers a shorter and more unique equivalent of the current .co.uk.

There is no doubt that this change is a landmark one for businesses in the UK. There has been a shift in how businesses want their domain names to work for them – with shorter extensions becoming more popular than ever. The announcement of the .uk will bring businesses in the UK into line with France (.fr) and Germany (.de) with a simpler domain extension.

The .uk extension will open up space for people and businesses to buy the domain that they want and they might have missed out on previously. What’s more, when launched businesses need only make a small investment in this domain to further enhance their online brand.

The news is also a positive one for the UK’s digital economy and further highlights the support for small businesses in the UK. The domain name market is currently undergoing a major transition as new gTLD’s are set to market and the release of .uk will open up space for people and businesses to buy the domain that they really want. What’s more those businesses that have already purchased the .co.uk domain name will be offered first refusal on the shorter equivalent.

So here is a breakdown of the changes

• Web addresses ending in .uk rather than .co.uk will be available from the summer of 2014
• Businesses will be able to register shorter simpler alternatives to .co.uk
• The move brings the UK in line with Germany and France
• Nominet will announce a launch date in early 2014

We will be offering our customers the chance to extend their domain portfolio with a .uk gTLD. See if the .uk domain version of your website is available. The combination of a shorter extension alongside the trust of the ‘.uk’ brand will bring about the extension of choice within the market, further enhancing the opportunities for those businesses who want their own online space.

Over the coming months we will be in consultation with Nominet and we are committed to making sure we keep everyone up to date with any changes in advance of the launch date announcement.