The introduction of new domain extensions could take place as early as the beginning of 2009, according to a specialist organisation.

A spokesman for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) said that proposing a domain extension was not as easy as suggesting one to the local registrar and taking it if it had not already been claimed.

However, he added, it depended on the practical applications of the domain, with more people needed to support the item or provide competition to it to get propositions processed.

The representative added: "If there's a controversy free one that meets all the technical and financial requirements, it can be approved pretty quickly and in that 2009 period it is possible you could see them later that year."

ICANN is poised to offer endless variations of domain names to customers, with eBay hoping to claim .ebay and cities such as Berlin and New York also planning to put in for their own deviations.

According to a recent survey by Connect, the two biggest IT headaches for businesses were 'everyday hassles with IT' (37 per cent) and 'security concerns' (32 per cent) In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were 'guaranteed response times' and 'allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues'