INTERNET
New Web sites directory launched
18-12-2000
by Aoidin Scully
A new printed directory of Web sites in the .ie domain has been launched and is to be published quarterly.
The ie directory claims to be an independent categorised listing of Irish Web sites. Main category headings include Business, Education, Entertainment, Finance, and Internet. ie directory is a Galway-based company and is the first Internet-related project spun off from the parent company, Paramount Concepts Ltd.
Listing in the directory is free, though Paramount recommends that companies include a descriptive line of text to enhance their listing, at a cost of IEP30 per quarter. The company claims to have a readership of 50,000, though a test edition for October -- December sold only 10,000 to 12,000 copies.
"We have a mailing list which gives us access to 149,000 third-level students, as well as the users of all the libraries around Ireland," said Catherine Gannon, a director in the company.
Gannon added that Paramount was delighted with the response to the first edition and said it was hoped their 30-45 year old readership segment would grow significantly in the coming months.
Criticisms that printed directories are out-of-date even before they go to print were rejected by Gannon, who said the directory listed only active sites.
"We search through each site to make sure it is active before publication. So while there may be a lot more sites registered with the IE Domain Registry, they may not be active. Most of our information is very up-to-date," said Gannon.
She added that the company was prohibited from publishing details of personal sites.
Paramount is in the process of finalising a new on-line search engine, called Easysearch.ie and claims to be seeking investment for an Internet payment system which allows an individual to purchase on-line without the use of a credit card.
The second edition of the directory is now available at newsagents throughout the country.
Its publication follows the institution of two new whois services -- on-line, searchable tools that let the public find which companies own which Web site names. The whois services are available at
www.domainregistry.ie/search/whois.html and at www.whoisireland.com
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