A global internet body has voted for the biggest change in the online world in years, with the allowance to create new website domain suffixes.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) plans to increase the number of domain endings, up from the current 22.

Icann will begin taking applications in 2012, with cities and corporations expected to be amongst the first.

This vote completes a 6-year negotiation process and is the most significant change to the system since the .com was first introduced 26 years ago.

There will be several hundred new, generic top-level domain names (gTLDs).  These could include addresses such as .google, .london or even .sony.

However, it will cost $185,000 (£114,000) to apply for these suffixes, and companies need to show they have a legitimate claim.  Applications will start on January 12^th.

Currently, there are 22 gTLDs, as well as around 250 country-level domains such as .uk, .de and .no.

The current generic TLDs:

.com – broad
.net – broad
.org – non-profit organisations
.edu – educational institutions
.gov – government institutions
.info – information (but open for general use)
.int – international organisations
.mil – military organisations
.arpa – first ever domain
.aero – air travel industry
.biz – business industry
.travel – travel industry
.coop – co-operatives
.mobi – mobile phones
.tel – telecoms
.post – postal services
.jobs – employment websites
.pro – professionals
.museum – museums
.asia – Asian websites
.cat – Catalan language
.name – personal names

Source: Icann