As the deadline for open competition of domain name registration approaches, the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers Wednesday added 12 registrars to its list of accredited firms.

The following companies have met ICANN's criteria to participate in Network Solutions Inc.'s (NSOL) Shared Registry System, the last step before the firms can register .com, .net and .org domains:

• Columbia Analytical Services, Inc. (United States)
• DADA Sarl (Italy)
• Eastern Communications Co., Ltd. (China)
• Internet Domain Registry (Israel)
• Internet Fr SA (France)
• iTool.com (United States)
• Nobel Networks (United States)
• NORDNET (France)
• Secura Company (Germany)
• Stargate Communications, Inc. (United States)
• The Direct Connection Ltd. (United Kingdom)
• US Domain Registry (United States)

The companies join the 64 companies that have already been accredited by ICANN, starting in April.

The deadline for the Shared Registry System testing is Sept. 30, when the remaining institutions in the testing phase should be able to begin registration. The deadline has already been through four extensions, however, as Network Solutions and ICANN work to solve disputes about how to handle the domain name system.