The i-Nav plug-in software developed by Verisign will use the Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) system, a method of using non-Roman characters in Web and email addresses. Chinese and 350 other languages for domain names ending in .com and .net can use the IDNs system, said the report.
Distribution agreements with Internet service provider 3721.com and the Foxmail email service has been signed, allowing them to distribute the i-Nav software to China's 56 million Internet users.
Christopher Parente, communications manager of Verisign, was reported as saying that of the over 655 million worldwide Internet users, 63.5 percent do not speak English as their first language. Zhou Hongyi, CEO of 3721.com said that IDNs will increase the adoption of the Internet in China.
VeriSign's 13 DNS (domain name server) servers around the world has also been updated with IDNs recognition, said the report.
Analysts IDC reported that 76 percent of the worldwide Internet population lives outside the United States, with other studies showing that 43 percent of the world's Internet population speaking no English at all.
Most Internet users have to use the A-Z and 0-9 English alphabet and numerals to address URLs (Universal Resource Locators), also know as Web site addresses.
Today, IDNs allows for local language navigation in Chinese, Korean and Japanese, among others.
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