PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia needs to act quickly and embrace the Domain Name System (DNS) technology as it offers extraordinary potential for strengthening social and economic development and environmental protection, said Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Zahidi Zainul Abidin.

He said being a critical driver in digital transformation, DNS would create a new range of opportunities, digital products and services to level the playing field with other countries.

"It is time for our nation to act quickly and embrace the new digital evolution that will transform and accelerate the nation's capability to compete in the global digital economy," he said when opening the Asia Pacific (APAC) DNS Forum 2022 here today.

DNS is the component that binds the network and servers that form the internet.

Zahidi said DNS played a critical role on the internet to provide ease of use and better visibility as well as establish digital brands and digital premises.

"Without DNS efficiency and robustness, it would be impossible for billions of users to surf the Internet. DNS will continue to evolve and is expected to boost demand for network architectures and technologies to connect to the network safely and reliably," he said.

To address the evolution, Zahidi said organisations should take advantage of distributed DNS technology to enable seamless access for consumers in the growing digital economy.

"As Malaysia progresses steadfastly towards becoming a high-income nation, it is crucial for the country to be more agile and responsive to various disruptive innovations emerging in the communications and multimedia sectors.

"We are confident that Malaysia will continue to adapt and be resilient to the rapidly changing landscape to remain competitive globally," he said.


He said the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted businesses globally and caused many companies and organisations to jump on the digital transformation bandwagon to remain relevant and sustainable.

"The country has seen tremendous growth in domain name subscriptions locally and internationally. The pandemic has accelerated the learning and growth cycle of businesses that are required for them to adapt to the changing situations to survive and build resiliency," he said.

The four-day APAC DNS 2022 virtual forum, themed 'Beyond Technology: The DNS Revolution', is organised by MyNic Bhd, the official .my domain registry under the Communications and Multimedia Ministry, and the Internet Corporated for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

-- BERNAMA