'Net Features : tld

DiscoveryDNS Offers Greater Control Over DNS Systems

Michael Garrity — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:35:00 GMT

Last October, ARI Registry Services announced plans to expand its line of DNS services, and on Sunday, at ICANN’s 46th public meeting in Beijing, ARI took the next step by unveiling its new DiscoveryDNS brand.

DiscoveryDNS is a managed DNS service meant to help customers handle the challenges, risks and opportunities available in modern, dynamic business and technical environments.

According to the CTO of ARI Registry Services, Chris Wright, “Our mission is to change the way the market perceives outsourced DNS services by providing predictability, transparency, superior technical capability and trust.”

In order to give top-level domain (TLD) operators greater control and transparency when managing their DNS system, DiscoveryDNS offers them access to the raw packet capture (PCAP) files for all of their DNS queries.

However, at first, DiscoveryDNS will only be providing services for new TLD applicants and country code TLD operators; eventually, ARI plans to expand the service with a new product intended for Registrars, ISPs and hosting providers.

At present, DiscoveryDNS boasts over 475 new TLD applications as its foundational clients, which already makes it one of the world’s largest DNS providers, per TLD, once delegation is completed.

Demand Media Prepares for New gTLDs

Allison Howen — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 17:03:00 GMT

Demand Media, the digital media company that powers popular sites like Livestrong.com and eHow.com, is preparing for this year's release of the new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) with its recent acquisition of the Denver-based domain registrar Name.com.

Name.com was founded in 2003 and customers have since registered nearly 1.5 million domains, as well as used the company’s tools and services to grow their online presence. Furthermore, Demand Media’s eNom subsidiary has more than 13.5 million domain names on its platform registered by more than 8,800 resellers and partners.

“Name.com will provide a direct channel for us to reach consumers and small businesses as they develop and manage their online identities,” said Richard Rosenblatt, chairman and CEO, Demand Media. “This becomes even more valuable as over one thousand new domain extensions are expected to become available for registration in the years ahead.”

ICANN initiated the process for launching new gTLDs in 2011, and received more than 1,900 applications for new domain strings. Once released, the new gTLDs will increase domain name choices to include memorable or descriptive strings, such as .blog, .nyc, .ninja or .hotel, as well as help businesses better organize their Web pages.

“Our strategy is to provide an end-to-end solution for all things domains whether you are looking to consume or distribute names and services,” said Taryn Naidu, executive vice president of Registrar Services. “Name.com brings innovation, creativity and a deep commitment to their customers – factors which we believe are essential in the environment of new gTLDs.”

PRO Extension Passes 100,000 Registered Names

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 22:15:00 GMT

RegistryPRO, operators of the .PRO top-level domain, last week announced that it surpassed 100,000 registered names for the first time since its launch back in 2004. The general response from the industry has been an overwhelming, 'meh'.

According to registry operator data published by ICANN however, .PRO is one of only six gTLDs to achieve 11 consecutive months of growth in 2010 and ranks sixth among gTLDs with a net increase of over 53,000 names. .PRO also achieved 133% growth through November, which ranks second among all gTLDs though November 2010. It's still so far behind .com and even more recent entrants like .co that it hardly deserves a mention right?

100,000 registered names in seven years does not sound like much, but keep in mind that for many years .PRO was very much a closed system, being rigorous in who was able to sell and resell the extension. It also had a pretty lofty price tag which has subsequently been reduced to around $10/year.

So the question for WM readers is if you were certified in some professional endeavor (doctors, lawyers, etc.) would you acquire a .PRO?

Annual Report on .INFO Domain from Afilias

Domain Masters : feature — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 20:01:00 GMT

Afilias has released its 2010 .INFO annual report which recaps .INFO’s growth in 2010. The .INFO TLD has maintained its position as the top new TLD ever launched and is the seventh largest TLD on the Internet today with nearly 6.8 million domain...(read more)

The State of .INFO from Afilias

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Afilias, provider of Internet infrastructure services and registry for the .INFO domain, released its 2009 .INFO Annual Report. The .INFO TLD has had a tough run the past several years, but things are most definitely looking up.

.INFO Ranks seventh among all 270+ top level domains worldwide, boasting over 5.3 million domains – 70% of which resolve to real content (although there are only 1 million unique websites).

The top regions for registrations continue to be North America (61 percent) and Europe (23 percent). However, Asian markets are growing and the region now holds 11 percent of .INFO registrations. .INFO also continues to gain penetration into the registrar marketplace which offers domain names for retail sale. .INFO is now available with over 330 distributors that support over 90% of sales volume in the worldwide domain name industry.

“After 8 years of concerted effort, .INFO is the undisputed most successful new TLD launched to date, accounting for over 40 percent of all new TLD registrations,” said Roland LaPlante, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Afilias “.INFO’s experience provides many lessons applicable to the launch of new domains to come. As an organization, Afilias has been able to use our experiences with .INFO as a benchmark for successfully gaining approval for, launching and growing more new TLDs than any other registry services provider.”

RegistryPro Can Expand the .Pro TLD

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:33:00 GMT

RegistryPro, the exclusive operator of the .Pro top level domain (TLD) on the Internet, has received approval from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to expand the scope and availability of the .Pro TLD. This means that the number of professionals who are eligible for the TLD is now much broader.

Since 2004, access to .Pro has been available only to accountants, engineers, lawyers and medical professionals in Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. Under the new terms of service however, the TLD will become available to any professional or professional entity holding credentials from a certifying governmental authority anywhere in the world. Registrants will be required to annually reaffirm that they are using the registration for the professional purpose as intended.

The new Terms of Use obligates new and renewing registrants to do three key things: 1) self-certify professional credentials, 2) agree that their .Pro domain will be used only by them and 3) consent to use .Pro domains only in relation to professional services. As part of its commitment to ICANN, RegistryPro will monitor new and renewed domains to ensure that registrants adhere to these regulations.