Change is coming to the Internet—change that ICANN, the Internet’s governing board, calls the “Next Big .Thing.”

Beginning on January 12, 2012, ICANN will begin accepting applications for new generic top level domains. The application period closes on April 12, 2012, and no further application periods are currently planned. Applications will not become public until a few weeks after the application period closes and a US$185,000 application fee is required.

As a result of the new gTLD process, businesses will have the opportunity to operate their own gTLDs, meaning that they—among other things—can create new marketing (e.g., “.brand”) and business paradigms (e.g., intranets and authorized dealer spaces online).