Move over .com, now it's time for .pizza...

Proposals for internet addresses ending in ‘.pizza’, ‘.space’ and ‘.auto’ are among nearly 2,000 suffix suggestions submitted as part of the largest ever expansion in the worldwide web’s address syste

And the tech-savvy UAE looks set to benefit from the massive shake-up of the .com system, with the address .arab likely to be based in the Emirates.

The UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) yesterday joined Apple, Sony, American Express and hundreds of other companies in proposing alternatives to the familiar .com internet address.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced the 1,930 proposals in London. The bulk have come from the US and Europe and will compete for 1,409 available addresses.

The .arab proposal would see the TRA responsible for the operation of the suffix under the ICANN expansion programme.

Adrian Kinderis, CEO of internet name registration firm ARI Registry Services, said that .arab would give the Arab World an “identity reflective of its culture and society”.

Kinderis added: “It could fuel greater internet use across the region”.

The proposed new addresses would rival ‘.com’ and about 300 others now in use, including country addresses such as .ae for the UAE and co.uk for the UK.

Each name could generate tens of millions of dollars for owners of the 1,400 names that are chosen.

"I think it’s a fantastic thing,” said Ali Hassan, a software engineer in Abu Dhabi who has registered five of his own .com addresses.

“.com is short for commerce, which is a very American word. This shake-up will free up people who want a differ­ent feel for their business. I look forward to ‘business.arab’ or something like that, it gives my business a different identity.”