LONDON, January 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Telnic Limited (http://www.telnic.org), the registry operator for the new .tel top level domain, today announced the opening of the Telnic Accredited Technology Partner programme for organizations looking to integrate their technology products and services with .tel. This free and optional programme is available to all organizations wishing to seamlessly integrate their offerings with the .tel service.

We've seen a huge response from organizations of all types about the .tel, said Henri Asseily, CTO and Chief Strategist for Telnic Limited, We're now creating a formal program that will enable technology and web services providers of all types to work with us to make sure that they can integrate with the .tel platform seamlessly.

The .tel domain provides individuals and businesses with a communications 'hub' which enables them to store all types of contact information and publish it to any device connected to the internet. As a platform entirely under the user's control, this enables them to:

- Transition between communications channels and technologies easily dependent on how new technologies and channels develop - Adopt and replace existing communications channels such as landline numbers with voice over IP (VoIP) numbers easily, transitioning to lower-cost solutions - Adopt new customer relationship management (CRM) technologies that enable them to enhance their customer experience - Use the .tel domain as a shield to protect private contact information, thus making it their single point of contact in third party services like social and business networks - Manage in a neutral space subscriptions to other web services, allowing their APIs to talk under their control within their .tel environment

An organization gaining Telnic Accredited Technology Partner status will have worked with Telnic to test, document, integrate and accredit its technology solution to work with the .tel top level domain (TLD). The specific technology will also carry a stamp of approval from .tel.

Accreditation includes a shared testing process in order to make sure that the application works correctly with communications information stored within the Domain Name System (DNS), the APIs and Web Proxy pages allowing customers to access and interact with the .tel information, and the TelHosting platform which enables customers to input, manage and publish information in their .tel domain.

Organisations currently working with Telnic who automatically become part of this programme include:

- voipGATE - voipGATE operates locally and worldwide as one of the unique and leading Operators in Voice over IP by offering professional telecommunication services (SIP Trunk) with added value services like Online Communication Management, Softphone, Webphone, Click2Call, Callback, and local Phone Numbers - Digitrad - Digitrad offers interactive voice services administrated from the web. Stand4u interactive voice response (IVR), Visual Voicemail, RSS voice, Flash2call, Call standard, Call transfer, Hotline, Premium numbers, Conferences, Online gaming, voice guides and micro-payment solutions - Webnames.ca - Webnames.ca is Canada's original domain registrar and a one-stop convenience for the online needs of individuals, small businesses, nonprofit organizations and corporations

Jorge Marques, COO of voipGATE, comments We are delighted to be Telnic's Accredited Technology Partner as we believe the .tel embodies the communication platform for the next generation. For the last months we have closely worked with Telnic on our communication services to enhance the .tel experience. It is key for voipGATE to be part of this new trend, and the upcoming version of our Softphone will be the result of the .tel directory services and functionalities integration. Ease-of-access, contact management and call options provided by any .tel name will become instantly available to customers in one key application, our Softphone.

Any organization or individual developers wishing to find out more about integrating .tel with their products and services can visit http://dev.telnic.org. For further information or to contact Telnic about participating in this programme, organizations can email news@telnic.org

About Telnic Limited

Founded in 2000, Telnic Limited is the UK-based Registry Operator and Sponsoring Organization for the new .tel sponsored top level domain (sTLD). For more information regarding the .tel domain or Telnic Limited, please visit http://www.telnic.org. .tel will launch to trademark holders on December 3, 2008 and everyone else on February 3, 2009.

Contact: Beth Moore, Account Executive, Edelman London, Tel: +44(0)20-30-472068, Email: beth.moore@edelman.com