Landrush for .Asia Begins Worldwide! Registration Available to Everyone!Celebrities, Companies & Charitable Institutions adopt .Asia as their Internet home in Asia

Hong Kong, 23 February 2008 – DotAsia Organisation, the first global “top-level domain” in Asia, officially launched “Landrush” for the .Asia Internet domain today, opening for registrations by anyone around the world. While “.com” ignited the development of ecommerce in the US, “.eu” launched to become the cyber-home for the European Union; “.Asia” will become a platform for growth for Asia, and a gateway to reach the largest Internet marketplace in the world.

Celebrities around Asia launch their online presence with a .Asia domain, AndyHui.Asia, ChageAska.Asia, Justin.Asia, EllaKoon.Asia, Miki.Asia and C-Hing.Asia Among Early Adopters
Following the exciting announcements in Delhi last week with legendary cricketer launching KapilDev.Asia among other Bollywood stars, and earlier in January from Beijing with Gaomin.Asia and other Chinese Olympic gold medallists, today DotAsia is proud to announce that over 700 artists and celebrities from Hong Kong, have participated to adopt the .Asia domain.

“We are extremely pleased that our .Asia Pioneer Domains Program has provided value to artists around Asia, many of whom lost out or were victims of abuse in other domains. We especially thank the Hong Kong Performing Actors Guild for their participation in reaching out to artists,” said Edmon Chung, CEO of DotAsia. “The most exciting part is that we can anticipate many of the stars to launch their official website for Asian fans around the world on a .Asia website.”

The .Asia Social Pioneer Program also completed with participation from many not-for-profit initiatives around Asia, including YouthFoundation.Asia, Heroes.Asia, BreakThrough.Asia, MuseumofWorldReligions.Asia among many meaningful and charitable organizations. These join with previous early adopters through the Global Brand Pioneers, such as SonyEricsson.Asia, Time.Asia, AIG.Asia, Amazon.Asia and others to form a strong foundation for .Asia as Asia’s prime virtual real estate. The Pioneer Domains Program completed successfully with over 2,500 domain names applied for from over 30 countries around the world.

Landrush Marks Historical Milestone for 8-Year Dream from the Asia Internet Community
DotAsia Kicks-Off Community Contributions with: AndyHuiCares.Asia & CJ7Cares.Asia

The official launch tonight marks an important milestone in an 8-year journey for the Asia Internet community to see the .Asia domain come to fruition. “We wanted to provide a common platform – from Asia, for Asia – where individuals and businesses alike will be able to target the online community in Asia, which is by far the largest in the world,” explains Edmon. “The .Asia domain opens a new frontier on the Internet for the region, and marks an important milestone in the emergence of Asia as a global leader in digital marketing.”

As a not-for-profit community-based organisation, one of DotAsia’s core mandates is to direct surplus proceeds to initiatives that benefit the community in the region. To celebrate the worldwide Landrush launch, DotAsia kicked-off its commitment to the Asia community by announcing its support for the Andy Hui Global Foundation and the William So International Foundation. During the Landrush celebration party at Cliq, Hong Kong, DotAsia donated HKD120,000 to the Andy Hui Global Foundation and the William So International Foundation towards redevelopment efforts for survivors of the recent snowstorms in China.

“The Andy Hui Global Foundation is currently raising funds to provide support for the snowstorm victims in China. We are excited to receive support and donation from DotAsia as a regional organization, and believe that their participation can help bring our message across Asia,” says Andy Hui. “Log on now to www.AndyHuiCares.Asia to show your support!”

DotAsia’s collaboration with Andy Hui has also attracted other celebrities from the entertainment industry to join in the celebrations. Besides Andy Hui (www.AndyHui.asia), Justin Lo (www.Justin.asia), Miki Yeung (www.Miki.asia) and Wilfred Lau (www.C-Hing.asia) are some of the supporters and well-wishers seen at Cliq tonight. Ella Koon (www.EllaKoon.asia) also made an appearance and a personal contribution to the Foundation in conjunction with this initiative.

Independently, DotAsia had sponsored the domain name for the charitable initiative: www.CJ7Cares.asia for Stephen Chow’s new comedy film CJ7, which also earlier adopted the domain www.CJ7.asia for the movie itself. Mr. Chung says, “With the recent spate of negative news about information delivered over the Internet, we wanted to demonstrate that the Internet can serve a good purpose and deliver positive information. We are grateful to have participated in such a meaningful event for the community in Tin Shui Wai.”

About DotAsia Organisation:
DotAsia Organisation is the Sponsoring Organisation and Registry Operator for the .Asia Sponsored Generic Top Level Domain. DotAsia is a not-for-profit, community-based organisation incorporated in Hong Kong. Asia has developed into a global force in the international commercial, political and cultural network. The .Asia domain aspires to embrace this dynamism in the Asia Century to become a nucleus, intersection and breeding ground for Internet activity and development in the region. To learn more about DotAsia, please visit: http://www.registry.asia