Radix Registry Awards Contracts for .WEBSITE, .HOST, .SPACE And .PRESS to CentralNic

[news release] CentralNic Group PLC has exclusively signed a Registry Service Provision contract with Radix Registry FZC (“Radix”), one of the leading applicants for new TLDs with 27 applications, for its four uncontested Top Level Domains, empowering customers globally to register domain names ending .website, .press, .host or .space (as alternatives to traditional endings like .com and .co.uk).

.website is a true alternative to the .com TLD; it is open and available to all for the full range of possible uses
The .press TLD will provide its users with a platform to share opinions and disseminate information. The primary target market will comprise of journalists, bloggers, media professionals, news providers and book publishers
The exclusive new gTLD for the web-hosting industry, .host, is aimed to be the extension of choice for web hosts, Approved Scanning Vendors (“ASVs”), Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”), cloud service providers and other such entities
.space will serve to provide both individuals and organisations across the globe with a blank canvas to create their own online space

Commenting on the exclusive agreement with Radix, CentralNic CEO Ben Crawford said: “Radix is one of the most experienced and best resourced companies in the new generic Top-Level Domain (“gTLD”) space, as well as having a deep understanding of the domain industry. In fact, Radix’s gTLD applications include every one of the top 7 “most valuable new gTLDs,” as rated by domain valuation experts Sedo1. CentralNic is excited to be able to continue to realise its objective of increasing the number of domain extensions on our global distribution platform by adding these fantastic TLDs to the portfolio that we offer to retailers (“registrars”) globally.”

Bhavin Turakhia, Founder and CEO of Radix said: “Radix decided to award these contracts to CentralNic following our excellent experience partnering with them on the .pw and .in.net domain extensions. They have proved to us the value of their integrated global registrar network, their technical strength, their deep expertise in selling domains, and their ability to work with our people as a united team.”

The first of the Radix TLDs is expected to launch through CentralNic in Q2 2014. Domain name retailers around the world will obtain .website, .host, .space and .press domain names via the CentralNic platform to sell to end users.

Starting Dot Launches Two New Extensions : .BIO and .ARCHI

Starting Dot,a start-up created in 2011 and one of the first European firms to enter the new extensions for domain names market, announced that .ARCHI and .BIO new TLDs will be available as of April.

You can read the press release after the jump :

“Starting Dot, a start-up created in 2011, is one of the first European firms to enter the new extensions for domain names market. Its strategy will be to target communities.

.ARCHI and .BIO will be available as of April

    Starting Dot is the exclusive administrator of the .archi, .bio and .ski top-level domains globally.
    These extensions are intended for sectors with a strong professional identity. Their potential is higher because they are short (3 to 5 letters) and carry a universal meaning. archi is intended for architects, .bio for biographies, life sciences and organic agriculture, and lastly, .ski is the Internet representation of the world’s most popular winter sport.
    The .archi domain names will be available for registration starting April 8, 2014 (“Sunrise”, the priority phase for trade mark owners, from April 8 to June 8, 2014 followed by general availability on June 16, 2014). More information on http://www.dot-archi.com.
    The .bio domain names will be open to registration from April 24, 2014 (“Sunrise” from April 24 to 23 June, 2014, followed by general availability on July 1, 2014). More information on http://www.dot-bio.net.
    The .ski domain names will be available in July 2014.

“After more than two years of technical and legal development, and with an investment of US$ 3.5 million, Starting Dot is today entering the sales and operations phase, enabling the company to serve the thousands of firms who have already sent us their advance orders,” said Godefroy Jordan, Starting Dot’s CEO and founder.

Sales of new domains take off

Due to the shortage of available domain names, in 2012 ICANN[1] authorized the creation of new extensions. Following a selection phase, 184 new extensions are already open for registration and hundreds of others will be available in the second quarter of 2014.

350,000 domain names have been sold since the end of January with some notable successes: 46,000 domain names registered for .guru and 41,000 for .berlin.
The new domains have generated a growth of +10% of the global domain names market, even before the higher potential extensions have yet to be launched.

Stéphane Van Gelder appointed to Starting Dot’s Strategy Committee

Stéphane Van Gelder joins Starting Dot’s strategy piloting unit, which is composed of six independent persons alongside founders Godefroy Jordan and Guillaume Buffet.
Stéphane Van Gelder is director of Milathan, a consulting company, and member of the ICANN Nomination Committee. He has been involved in the domain names industry for 15 years. He was one of the founders of Indom, an internet domain name registrar, and former president of the GNSO, the ICANN constituency in charge of generic top-level domains.
“

Consultation Over IANA Stewardship To Be Accessible To All

The process of determining how best to transfer stewardship of key internet technical functions from the US Government to the international community began Monday during ICANN’s 49th public meeting in Singapore and be accessible to as many as possible. ICANN President and CEO Fadi Chehadé said information will be available in all six United Nations languages plus Portuguese as well as for people with accessibility issues.

This was important, Chehadé said, so as many people as possible from as many parts of the world could participate in the consultation process.

Discussions on the transfer of stewardship were driven by the recent announcement from the United States Government.

“Everyone is welcome and ICANN is committed to equal participation by all parties interested to give their opinion,” Chehadé said. “We must all be equal partners.” The consultation will be “inclusive and allow full participation.”

But the consultation process has not yet been clearly defined with concerns being raised about the clarity of how it will take place. Explaining this, Chehadé noted, a memo will be coming out on 7 April to explain more.

“This is indeed momentous,” Chehadé told an international news conference. “The decision by the United States Government validates the idea that people around the world can come together and manage a global resource that is borderless.”

But when asked what the timeline was, Chehadé was non-committal, saying that the security, stability and resiliency of the internet were more important. Further, Chehadé reiterated the NTIA’s recent comments that said no transfer would take place unless the IS Government were satisfied there would be no detrimental impacts on the internet. However Chehadé said that September 2015, the end date for the current IANA contract is what the organisation is working towards. But if it is not ready to happen, ICANN will ask for an extension of their contract.

Explaining the next steps in the transition process, Chehadé went on to say, “We will now take the global process launched today by the ICANN community to the world. We will have meetings and consultations with the public, communities and with our fellow technical organisations, the IETF, the Regional Internet Registries, and here most importantly in the Asia Pacific region, APNIC, who will be partnering with us in getting the word out to involve everyone into that process.”

“I would like to congratulate ICANN for successfully setting up two regional hubs last year, one in Istanbul, Turkey, and the other here in Singapore,” said Dr. Yaacob Ibrahim, Singapore’s Minister for Communications and Information. “It underscores ICANN’s commitment to serve the global community. and I believe that Asia-Pacific hub in Singapore will be a great vehicle for ICANN to reach out to the region.

“Absolutely central to everything that we do and that matters to the world at large is the security, stability and resiliency of the system,” said Board Chair Dr. Stephen D. Crocker. “The discussion that is taking place now has to do with the stewardship, but with the proviso of continued stability and rock-solid operations of the core functions.”

iAcademy.com Domain Name Sells for $55,000

The domain name iAcademy.com was recently sold for $55,000. The domain name was sold by Frank Schilling and his company.

According to whois records, the domain name was first registered in Novemeber,2001.

B.E. Publishing, a company that “has been specializing in providing hands-on, real-world classroom resources that put students in the front-line of the “real world.” is the buyer.

Congratulations to both the seller and the buyer.