Posts by Adam Eisner

Cross-posted with permission from The WHIR

Adam Eisner, Director, Domain Services for OpenSRS is in Sydney, Australia attending ICANN’s 35th International Meeting. While he’s there, Adam will be writing regular reports for The Web Hosting Industry Review (The WHIR). Thanks to The WHIR for letting us cross-post Adam’s entries here.

Original article

I’ve arrived in Sydney safe and sound following a grueling two-leg, 21-hour flight from Toronto. The conference is now in full swing, and close to one thousand attendees from countries worldwide are discussing a wide range of Internet-related issues.

So far, as expected, one of the most popular discussion topics around the conference has been new Generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs), and the impact they will have on the domain industry and the Internet in general. As ICANN gets closer to accepting applications for new gTLDs (currently expected to begin in Q1 2010), all sorts of proposals for new extensions are emerging. Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck has been spotted here signing autographs in support of the bid for .FOOD. A video has popped up featuring basketball superstar Shaquille O’Neal, who is adding his support to a bid for .BASKETBALL. And with many applicants still holding their cards close to their chest, expect even more bids and celebrities to come out of the woodwork in the coming months.

Today I’m spending the entire day in the meeting of the Registrar Constituency, a group within one of ICANN’s supporting organizations comprised of ICANN-accredited registrars both large and small. Today’s discussion topics will include ICANN’s budget, registrar compliance issues, domain name security and stability and more. It’s a great opportunity to discuss issues that are important to registrars as a whole, and to try to help influence the decision making process regarding key issues at ICANN.

The conference runs until Friday, and the rest of my week is jam-packed with sessions and meetings. Stay tuned for more updates, including a coming update to ICANN’s Registrar Accreditation Agreement that will impact many web hosting companies.

Cross-posted with permission from The WHIR

Adam Eisner, Director, Domain Services for OpenSRS is in Sydney, Australia attending ICANN’s 35th International Meeting. While he’s there, Adam will be writing regular reports for The Web Hosting Industry Review (The WHIR). Thanks to The WHIR for letting us cross-post Adam’s entries here.

Original article

[Ed. Note: Adam submitted this article last week before leaving for Australia, so while he says in the post “I will head to Sydney, Australia…” at this point he’s already there.]

Later this week I will head to Sydney, Australia for the 35th International Meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, otherwise known as ICANN. Held three times a year, ICANN’s international meetings bring together domain name registries, registrars, registrants and other parties to discuss domain name and Internet policies. The topics discussed and the decisions made at these meetings ultimately have a significant impact on web hosting companies.

As the name implies, ICANN is responsible for the oversight and operation of the domain name and IP address namespace. Ever wonder who approves domain name extensions like .TEL, .MOBI, .BIZ or .INFO? That responsibility falls to ICANN. Have you ever been interested in becoming your own domain name registrar? ICANN will ultimately decide whether you can. ICANN’s international meetings are therefore great forums to learn where the domain name market is headed, and how decisions made at ICANN will ultimately impact your business. ICANN actively encourages public participation, and as a wholesale domain name registrar with a reseller-focused offering, we’re actively involved in the organization to make sure our customers’ voices are heard.

One of the key points of discussion at the upcoming meeting will be new domain name extensions. ICANN is planning to introduce dozens, if not hundreds, of new extensions in the next three to four years. The namespace will no longer be limited to .com, .net, .org (and a handful of others) along with country code extensions; instead, expect a wide range of new domains based on location, interest or company. Although no new extensions have been approved (applications won’t be accepted until Q1 2010), many organizations are already touting the applications they intend to submit for new extensions like .radio, .eco, .nyc, .paris and more. And don’t be surprised if companies get in on the act, too; under ICANN’s new rules, a .ebay or .ibm is not impossible, should those companies decide to apply for the respective extension.

I’ll be posting meeting updates once the conference gets underway in Sydney, so be sure to keep an eye on this space for reports on the latest developments from the meeting. You can learn more about the 35th International Meeting at http://syd.icann.org. If you’re curious to learn more about ICANN, Wikipedia’s entry on the organization is as good a place as any to start. You can find it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICANN.

Last night I began the long trip from Toronto, Canada to Sydney, Australia (thankfully by plane and not by the route Google suggests) for the 35th International Meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). There is a fair bit of anticipation for the meeting because of several key issues that are expected to be discussed:

• New gTLDs: Although ICANN is not expected to formally being accepting applications for new domain name extensions until Q1 2010, many organizations hoping to obtain new extensions are starting to appear, and are starting to make their intentions known. I expect many bids for new extensions to be made public during and after next week’s meeting.
• ICANN’s new CEO: Paul Twomey, the current President and CEO of ICANN, announced earlier this year that he would be leaving ICANN at the end of 2009. Since then, speculation has been rampant regarding who his replacement will be. ICANN recently announced they were in the contract negotiation stage with a new President and CEO; he/she is scheduled to be approved and introduced to the ICANN community during the Sydney meeting.
• The new Registrar Accreditation Agreement: Every registrar, including Tucows, is bound to an agreement with ICANN called the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA). The RAA dictates what a registrar’s responsibilities are as an organization approved by ICANN to offer domain names as a registrar. ICANN recently approved a new version of the RAA, which includes additional provisions regarding the protection of registrant data, and it is a subject that is likely to be discussed throughout the conference by ICANN and registrars alike.

Of course, there are plenty of other items to be discussed, not to mention plenty of new developments and news that always seems to emerge as the conference progresses. Keep an eye on this space for updates over the next week and a half.

Since late last year, we’ve been talking about .TEL, the newest Global Top-level Domain (gTLD). Over the past few months, .TEL has gone from the Sunrise period to Landrush. During those times, trademark holders and then anyone who wished to register .TEL domains at a premium price could apply to own .TEL domains.

Now, we’re just a couple of days away from General Availability (GA) when the floodgates will be opened and everyone will be able to register their .TEL domain for the usual yearly registration fee of $8/domain year, plus the ICANN Fee of $0.20 and your OpenSRS Management Fee.

General Availability for .TEL begins officially on March 24th, 2009 at 15:00 GMT/UTC and as with the other two launch events, domains will be awarded on a first come, first served basis. .TEL Registrations will be available via the RWI and API at that time. Please note that there is a 15-hour blackout period between the closing of Landrush at 23:59 UTC/GMT on March 23rd, 2009 and the opening of the Registry for GA.

Resellers using OpenSRS Storefront may also want to sell .TEL domains and .TEL will be available in Storefront, although it will be disabled by default. You’ll need to enable it within the Storefront Manager.

Keep in mind that as Resellers, you are responsible for supporting your customers for .TEL domains and TelHosting. If you have any questions about how TelHosting works, Telnic provides quite a bit of information about the platform at their website. We suggest that you make yourself aware of how the platform and the
technology work.

A great way to learn about .TEL is to register your own .TEL domain and try it out. This can also provide a showcase for your customers that will demonstrate the benefits of .TEL and what it offers.

You may also wish to view the archive of the webinar that we held along with Telnic representatives a few months back. And, as usual, more information on .TEL can be found in our documentation.

You should be telling your customers about .TEL and explaining how it works. Here’s some reasons why everyone should purchase .TEL domains:

1. They are easy to use. You don’t need any web-design skills, or pay for hosting. Everything is saved within the innovative .TEL system.
2. They help people get found online. You can easily publish your contact information including social network profiles, email addresses and even your exact location. And you can protect any or all of that information using the privacy features built into .TEL.
3. They help grow your business. .TEL is accessible from the web, via any browser, and even through the iPhone, BlackBerry or other mobile internet devices like mobile phones.
4. They will boost your search ranking. .Tel listings are optimized for search engines like Google and Yahoo Search.
5. They can be used with your existing website. instead of a contact page, link to your .TEL domain and take advantage of the real-time changes and easy updates that .TEL provides.

The launch of .TEL has been interesting to watch, and now as GA approaches, we’re seeing lots of momentum around this new gTLD. Make sure you are a part of it.

I’m back from ICANN’s 34th international meeting, held this week in Mexico City. Every ICANN meeting is a busy one, and this one was no exception. Among the ‘hot button’ topics which were discussed at length:

• New gTLD applications will likely not be accepted until late 2009 or early 2010. The gTLD applicant guidebook, which describes the process of applying for and securing a new gTLD, is going to undergo another revision based on community feedback.
• Paul Twomey, ICANN’s President and CEO, announced he will move on from ICANN at the end of 2009. He has been President and CEO since 2003.
• A wide range of amendments to the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) were approved by the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) council. The RAA binds registrars like Tucows to various terms and conditions outlined by ICANN. We had a great deal of input on the revisions to the RAA, particularly as they applied to resellers. Stay tuned for more information on how and when these revisions will be implemented.

You can also check out ICANN’s briefing note from the meeting.

I expect there will be further review and discussion of all these topics and much more at the next ICANN international meeting, to be held in June in Sydney, Australia. You can find more information on June’s meeting at http://syd.icann.org.

Last week we made some improvements to our Personal Names Service that focused on two areas – search and email.

On the search side, we’ve made it smarter in a couple of ways. First, you can now use our bulk tools to query the Personal Names database. So, if you wanted to see how many of your customers have a personal names match, our bulk lookup tool can tell you immediately. Simply dump the list of names into the ‘bulk availability’ check using syntax firstname.lastname. You will then get a full list of available names.

Our Personal Names search now also recognizes popular short forms and nicknames, too. For example, entering ‘Robert’ will now also return results for ‘Bob’. This improvement has been made to both RWI and API search.

On the email side, we’re removing the ‘forwarding only’ option and providing all accounts with a full mailbox. You can still enable forwarding for that full mailbox if you wish. A new ‘webmail only’ option is now also available.

If you haven’t checked out our Personal Names Service, now is the time. There is a very real desire among consumers to secure an online personal identity; the extremely successful launch of .ME and renewed interest in .NAME demonstrate that. Our Personal Names are even ’stickier’ because they’re not available anywhere else, they’re based on the most popular surnames in the world, they include both email and a web address, and they’re as affordable as a regular domain name. You can find more information on Personal Names here: http://opensrs.com/personalnames/

The image is from a detail of artist Jim Dine’s painting “Name Painting (1935-1963) #1″ (1968). Thanks to Flickr user Eric Wilcox for making his photo available under a Creative Commons license.

This week I’ll be in Mexico City, attending ICANN’s 34th international meeting.

Like the previous meeting in Cairo, a great deal of discussion is likely to center on new gTLDs. Based on continued feedback from a wide variety of parties, the application process continues to be refined, and there is sure to be a great deal of discussion on current plans. I intend to sit in on at least a couple of the multiple sessions being held on the topic, as well as the day-long Registrar Constituency meeting, where a wide range of issues pertaining to registrars like Tucows are discussed.

But aside from policy, one of the most important reasons I attend meetings like these is to get together with all of the registries we currently work with. We offer close to 30 TLDs and ccTLDs via OpenSRS, and most of those are operated by different vendors and technology providers. ICANN meetings allow me to sit down with all of them at once to discuss upcoming plans, promotions and features. It also gives me a chance to look at new products and services that may be emerging in the domain name space.

I’ll have more on the meeting next week. In the meantime, you can learn more about the Mexico City conference here: http://mex.icann.org/.

EurID, the registry operator for .EU, has announced that .EU registrations recently passed the three million mark. This is particularly impressive given the .EU domain extension didn’t launch until 2006.

.EU’s growth, though impressive, hasn’t really surprised us. Over the past 18 months, .EU uptake in our reseller channel has made it into one of our most popular international extensions. In fact, we are the largest .EU registrar outside the European Union. It is a particularly popular extension among European businesses wishing to establish a single brand presence across the wide swath of countries which make up the European Union.

The practicality of a .EU domain name, combined with the large market it serves, should make it a natural fit for your current domain name offering. And while you’re looking at .EU, why not look at other large international extensions as well? .CA, .CO.UK, .ES and .US are all particularly popular in our reseller base, and should be staples of a complete domain name offering.

Happy New Year to all. Effective immediately, we’ve made some price reductions for a few of our ccTLDs.

As previously announced, the cost for .CN (China) domains has been substantially reduced to $15/domain year. Additionally, we’re also dropping the price for both .CH (Switzerland) and .LI (Liechtenstein) domains to $20/domain year.

Stay tuned for some further price promotion announcements in the coming weeks. The full OpenSRS wholesale domains price list has been updated to reflect the new pricing.

One of my favourite destinations for free, timely market research on domain names is VeriSign’s Domain Name Industry Brief. VeriSign, the registry operator for .COM, .NET and other popular extensions, puts a lot of resources into producing these Briefs, which are quarterly reports focusing on the state of the domain name industry. VeriSign also periodically releases special reports on specific topics, such as the state of the domain name market in Latin America and the Domain Name Primer, an in-depth look into how domain names work.

Earlier this month VeriSign released their last Brief of the year, which as usual was packed with all sorts of interesting facts. I always encourage our customers to read these Briefs, as they’re often full of data that can help our customers grow their businesses. For example:

• According to this quarter’s brief, the top five ccTLD registries in Q3 by domain name base were: .CN, .DE, .UK, .NL and .EU. All of these represent large domain markets which are experiencing significant growth. These also happen to be easy domain extensions to introduce to your business using OpenSRS.
• In Q3 2008, the .COM/.NET renewal rate industry-wide was 72 percent. If your renewal rates don’t hover around 70 percent, it can be a signal that your business may be experiencing retention/satisfaction issues. You can monitor your renewal rates and other business facts using the “Advanced Business Reports” link in OpenSRS.
• A surge in online video viewership and use, combined with an increase in quarterly .TV registrations, is making the .TV increasingly relevant and useful. The .TV extension is another easy opportunity to introduce a new domain name into your sales process.

I find that the Brief is rather well-hidden on VeriSign’s site, and that each one is released with little fanfare. I highly recommend bookmarking the site and checking it quarterly; I’m sure many industry participants still have yet to discover this data gem.