Entries tagged with “afilias” from Domains / Internet Technology News - DNS News
Afilias, which runs .info and provides registry services to a lot of other domains, has acquired the .mobi registry operator - mTLD Ltd.
The acquisition was officially announced on February 11th 2010, with both Afilias and mTLD releasing press releases etc., as well as a message to pass on to any registrants who might be concerned by the acquisition.
Is this good news or bad news?
I'd suspect that it's good news. It's certainly not bad!
It will be interesting to see what, if any, changes Afilias will bring to the .mobi namespace.
You can read the official announcement here
The acquisition was officially announced on February 11th 2010, with both Afilias and mTLD releasing press releases etc., as well as a message to pass on to any registrants who might be concerned by the acquisition.
Is this good news or bad news?
I'd suspect that it's good news. It's certainly not bad!
It will be interesting to see what, if any, changes Afilias will bring to the .mobi namespace.
You can read the official announcement here
Afilias are running a competition with a prize fund of $7500 for the first prize.
Full details of the competition and the entry form are on the official competition site
Full details of the competition and the entry form are on the official competition site
All registry operators have maintenance windows. In some cases they last a few minutes, while in others they can last a few hours.
But DK Hostmaster has to "take the biscuit".
They're shutting down all operations for a full 24 hours! While existing domains will continue to function as normal, the registry will be closed for all other operations for a full 24 hours.
Is this some new record?
Here's the email they sent out to nameserver managers:
"In connection with an upgrade of the DK Hostmaster systems, a number of
services, including the redelegation option, will shut down for 24 hours.
For further details, see below.
On 30 August 2009, users of the DK Hostmaster website will benefit from an
improved self-service facility. Our website will have a new, user-friendly
design to match the upgraded self-service facility. At the same time, we
will be implementing a new ERP system with new functionality and a new
invoice layout. These initiatives will enable us to introduce new system
functionality to meet user requirements in the future.
Due to the upgrade, it will not be possible to use our systems from
Saturday, 29 August 2009 at 6 am to Sunday, 30 August 2009 at 6 am. The
facilities affected include:
. Self-service
. Payments
. Waiting list
. Redelegation of .dk domain names
It will still be possible to apply for new .dk domain names. The
applications will be received, time-stamped and given a track number as
usual, but no domain names will be created during this period. The name
service will not be affected, but changes to the DK zone will NOT be
processed."
For a country as advanced as Denmark to have a registry operator like this is truly amazing.
Unfortunately Afilias' bid to takeover the management of the DK registry failed, leaving the incumbent in place.
But DK Hostmaster has to "take the biscuit".
They're shutting down all operations for a full 24 hours! While existing domains will continue to function as normal, the registry will be closed for all other operations for a full 24 hours.
Is this some new record?
Here's the email they sent out to nameserver managers:
"In connection with an upgrade of the DK Hostmaster systems, a number of
services, including the redelegation option, will shut down for 24 hours.
For further details, see below.
On 30 August 2009, users of the DK Hostmaster website will benefit from an
improved self-service facility. Our website will have a new, user-friendly
design to match the upgraded self-service facility. At the same time, we
will be implementing a new ERP system with new functionality and a new
invoice layout. These initiatives will enable us to introduce new system
functionality to meet user requirements in the future.
Due to the upgrade, it will not be possible to use our systems from
Saturday, 29 August 2009 at 6 am to Sunday, 30 August 2009 at 6 am. The
facilities affected include:
. Self-service
. Payments
. Waiting list
. Redelegation of .dk domain names
It will still be possible to apply for new .dk domain names. The
applications will be received, time-stamped and given a track number as
usual, but no domain names will be created during this period. The name
service will not be affected, but changes to the DK zone will NOT be
processed."
For a country as advanced as Denmark to have a registry operator like this is truly amazing.
Unfortunately Afilias' bid to takeover the management of the DK registry failed, leaving the incumbent in place.
The new TLD process is occupying a lot of people in the domain name industry at present.
While some people are obviously very much against the entire concept of new TLDs, there are plenty of people and organisations who support the project.
But what happens when you have more than one organisation vying for the same namespace?
While the ICANN new TLD application process itself has its own way of dealing with competing bids there's nothing to stop the interested parties in "duking it out" in public.
Seemingly the competition between two rival bids for .eco (doteco) has been getting more than a little dirty in the past few weeks.
Earlier this evening Dot Eco LLC, which is backed by Al Gore, the Sierra Club, the Alliance for Climate Protection and Surfrider Foundation, issued what they called an "open examination" of the competing bids. Anyone reading it would be excused for seeing it as a gauntlet being thrown by Dot Eco LLC in the face of Big Room's competing bid - and its partner Afilias.
The document, which runs to 17 pages, makes for interesting reading and examines the credentials of both bids, while also questioning the viability and chances of success of the rival bid.
For example, the economic analysis draws on the financials of PIR, which runs .org. PIR uses Afilias to run their backend, so it would not be unreasonable to assume that any arrangements Afilias has made with that registry would be emulated with others.
Of course this is a theory - not fact, but it is one that has been logically argued and demonstrated using data based on existing TLDs.
Having said that, Dot Eco LLC have been very open about the costs they will face from their chosen backend provider - Minds and Machines.
Minds and Machines have, in turn, also made a public commitment to "going green" and will also be incentivising their registrar partners to adopt "green" policies.
Have Afilias done anything similar?
While the public catfight between the two competing bids may be interesting to watch as it plays out it does, from an observer's perspective, raise a couple of interesting issues.
Presuming that other strings are going to be as attractive as .eco is for the two rivals mentioned (and without even mentioning the potential bid for .green), can expect to see a certain degree of this sort of mudslinging between future rival bids?
If some of the new TLD bids are going to have "agendas" attached to them, will they be viable or will we end up with a bunch of tiny namespaces that nobody uses or really cares about?
While it is clear that not all TLD projects are motivated purely by economics a lot of them will have taken on outside investors. If the investors do not get some form of return, will they walk away?
In many respects this kind of public catfight could act as just the first sign of worse to come.
While some people are obviously very much against the entire concept of new TLDs, there are plenty of people and organisations who support the project.
But what happens when you have more than one organisation vying for the same namespace?
While the ICANN new TLD application process itself has its own way of dealing with competing bids there's nothing to stop the interested parties in "duking it out" in public.
Seemingly the competition between two rival bids for .eco (doteco) has been getting more than a little dirty in the past few weeks.
Earlier this evening Dot Eco LLC, which is backed by Al Gore, the Sierra Club, the Alliance for Climate Protection and Surfrider Foundation, issued what they called an "open examination" of the competing bids. Anyone reading it would be excused for seeing it as a gauntlet being thrown by Dot Eco LLC in the face of Big Room's competing bid - and its partner Afilias.
The document, which runs to 17 pages, makes for interesting reading and examines the credentials of both bids, while also questioning the viability and chances of success of the rival bid.
For example, the economic analysis draws on the financials of PIR, which runs .org. PIR uses Afilias to run their backend, so it would not be unreasonable to assume that any arrangements Afilias has made with that registry would be emulated with others.
Of course this is a theory - not fact, but it is one that has been logically argued and demonstrated using data based on existing TLDs.
Having said that, Dot Eco LLC have been very open about the costs they will face from their chosen backend provider - Minds and Machines.
Minds and Machines have, in turn, also made a public commitment to "going green" and will also be incentivising their registrar partners to adopt "green" policies.
Have Afilias done anything similar?
While the public catfight between the two competing bids may be interesting to watch as it plays out it does, from an observer's perspective, raise a couple of interesting issues.
Presuming that other strings are going to be as attractive as .eco is for the two rivals mentioned (and without even mentioning the potential bid for .green), can expect to see a certain degree of this sort of mudslinging between future rival bids?
If some of the new TLD bids are going to have "agendas" attached to them, will they be viable or will we end up with a bunch of tiny namespaces that nobody uses or really cares about?
While it is clear that not all TLD projects are motivated purely by economics a lot of them will have taken on outside investors. If the investors do not get some form of return, will they walk away?
In many respects this kind of public catfight could act as just the first sign of worse to come.
Who needs new gTLDs when you can grab your own ccTLD!
Last year I noticed a trend in the ccTLD world, with a lot of governments and interest groups taking an interest in governance of their namespaces.
AFNIC, which runs .fr and several other cctlds, came under review from the French government.
Less than a year later the French government has put the registry management out to tender.
Interested parties have 52 days from the announcement, which was made on January 15th, to submit their proposals.
The winning bidder will get the contract for an initial period of 7 years.
So who is likely to place a bid?
Presumably AFNIC, who currently manage the namespace, will be in there, but there are bound to be others. Antony Van Couvering hints at COCCA making a play for it, while Afilias and several others may also be interested in getting a pitch in.
Last year I noticed a trend in the ccTLD world, with a lot of governments and interest groups taking an interest in governance of their namespaces.
AFNIC, which runs .fr and several other cctlds, came under review from the French government.
Less than a year later the French government has put the registry management out to tender.
Interested parties have 52 days from the announcement, which was made on January 15th, to submit their proposals.
The winning bidder will get the contract for an initial period of 7 years.
So who is likely to place a bid?
Presumably AFNIC, who currently manage the namespace, will be in there, but there are bound to be others. Antony Van Couvering hints at COCCA making a play for it, while Afilias and several others may also be interested in getting a pitch in.
The announcements by Verisign, PIR and Afilias of price increases in com,net,org and .info shouldn't really come as a surprise to anyone.
However if the year on year price increases do leave an interesting question - is there an upper ceiling?
Will the next price increase have a negative impact on some of the low cost registrars? (The last one didn't seem to have much impact)
What, if anything, are the registries doing to earn the extra fees?
In the case of .org their implementation of DNSSEC may bring about greater stability and security, but what of the other registry operators?
Are their costs increasing?
Verisign would like us to believe that their price increases reflect their ongoing investment in stability and scale, but do the end users really get to see any benefits?
The case of .info, however, is slightly different. Price increases in .info may actually help the public's perception of the TLD, though this will only really work if the increases are uniform and not diluted by promotional pricing.
However if the year on year price increases do leave an interesting question - is there an upper ceiling?
Will the next price increase have a negative impact on some of the low cost registrars? (The last one didn't seem to have much impact)
What, if anything, are the registries doing to earn the extra fees?
In the case of .org their implementation of DNSSEC may bring about greater stability and security, but what of the other registry operators?
Are their costs increasing?
Verisign would like us to believe that their price increases reflect their ongoing investment in stability and scale, but do the end users really get to see any benefits?
The case of .info, however, is slightly different. Price increases in .info may actually help the public's perception of the TLD, though this will only really work if the increases are uniform and not diluted by promotional pricing.
It's official.
DotDK is to come under new management from early 2009.
The DotDK Society have released a full press release detailing some of the reasons why their new management will be a marked improvement for stakeholders.
Afilias has been chosen to handle the registry backend, so the full deployment of EPP is to be expected.
More information is available on the DotDK site
Both Stephane and Francesco have posted on the subject as well.
DotDK is to come under new management from early 2009.
The DotDK Society have released a full press release detailing some of the reasons why their new management will be a marked improvement for stakeholders.
Afilias has been chosen to handle the registry backend, so the full deployment of EPP is to be expected.
More information is available on the DotDK site
Both Stephane and Francesco have posted on the subject as well.
According to post earlier today on Jothan Frakes' blog the .me registry is going to be managed by Aflilias in partnership with GoDaddy.
Francesco posted about the tendering process back in November and while his post does cover most of the issues with the tender he obviously hadn't considered the possibility of a registry operator teaming up with a registrar - but who could have?
What will be interesting to see is how they manage the registry moving forward. Is it likely to end up being converted into something that it wasn't intended to be originally? (think .tv or .ws) Or will it manage to strike the balance between catering for the region's residents while also serving the global market? (Unlikely, but you never know!)
Only time will tell! (And yes - I have used that phrase before)
Francesco posted about the tendering process back in November and while his post does cover most of the issues with the tender he obviously hadn't considered the possibility of a registry operator teaming up with a registrar - but who could have?
What will be interesting to see is how they manage the registry moving forward. Is it likely to end up being converted into something that it wasn't intended to be originally? (think .tv or .ws) Or will it manage to strike the balance between catering for the region's residents while also serving the global market? (Unlikely, but you never know!)
Only time will tell! (And yes - I have used that phrase before)
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