DNS Belgium, who run the Belgian country code domain name registry (.be), have opened a call for applications to their registrar forum. The forum gives the registry an opportunity to present upcoming or proposed changes to their processes and policies and get feedback from their channel partners. In the current climate with a growing number of regulations impacting domains, … [Read more...] about DNS Belgium Opens Call for Registrar Forum
registries
Hello Registry Picks up Automattic’s DotBlog
At the recent ICANN meeting in Istanbul CIRA and SIDN unveiled the new name and brand for their cloud based domain registry backend service: "Hello Registry". Up until then the CIRA backend was known as "Fury" and had been chosen by a few country code managers and some gTLD types, including .ie, as their backend. A few months ago CIRA and SIDN announced a partnership to … [Read more...] about Hello Registry Picks up Automattic’s DotBlog
New Zealand Switches to Canadian Software Backend
Earlier this week the .nz registry announced that they'd made the switch to CIRA's (the .ca domain name registry) domain registry backend software. CIRA have been quite successful in winning over country code operators to switch to using CIRA's software to run their backend systems. The .ie ccTLD switched over to the CIRA system previously. In both cases the software and … [Read more...] about New Zealand Switches to Canadian Software Backend
Donuts is no More – Rebrands as “Identity Digital”
Donuts is rebranding. The company which runs around 300 domain name extensions acquired Afilias back in 2020. They're now going to rename the entire thing "Identity Digital", which is using the domain Identity.Digital Here's the new logo: At one level I can understand that they'd want to come up with a new brand identity for the various companies that they've … [Read more...] about Donuts is no More – Rebrands as “Identity Digital”
PIR Gets Two New Board Directors
PIR (Public Interest Registry) run the .org domain name registry. They're owned by the Internet Society and it's ISOC who handle appointments to the PIR Board. Yesterday ISOC announced two new appointments to the PIR Board: Lena Beck Rørvig and Michael Silber. Here's the full release: The Internet Society today announced the appointment of Lena Beck Rørvig and … [Read more...] about PIR Gets Two New Board Directors
Donuts Offers “Extended Flexibility” to Ukrainian Registrants
Donuts, who also own Afilias, have contacted registrars to offer assistance with impacted registrants in Ukraine. Unlike during 2020 when many registries waived fees on RGP and other, concrete, things, this is pretty open. They're simply saying that they'll work with registrars to deal with issues caused by the war: It goes without saying–the people of Ukraine should not … [Read more...] about Donuts Offers “Extended Flexibility” to Ukrainian Registrants
Tucows Enters Domain Registry Market
Tucows has entered the domain name registry business. Earlier today the Toronto based domain name registrar announced that it was acquiring Frank Schilling's UNR which was his backend registry business. The transaction announced today appears to be solely for the backend services and not any domain extensions. Schilling had previously sold off his registrar and … [Read more...] about Tucows Enters Domain Registry Market
Radix Reports Premium Sales up for H1 2021
Radix registry, who run a bunch of new TLDs including .tech, .space, .online, .press and more have released their premium sales report for H1 2021. It's been a good year for the company so far, with their overall premium sales up 43% from H2 of 2020. Here are a few other salient data points: $2.91M in premium revenue$1.67M coming from renewals43% growth in premium new … [Read more...] about Radix Reports Premium Sales up for H1 2021
PIR (.org) Hiring CTO
PIR aka the .org registry, is hiring for the role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Up until 2018 PIR did not have a CTO, which is when they hired DNS veteran Joe Abley to fill the role. Fast forward three years and Abley has moved on to pastures new (he's now over at Neustar / GoDaddy registry doing funky DNS stuff) and so the role is up for grabs again. The job is being … [Read more...] about PIR (.org) Hiring CTO
Secretive Investment Company Ethos Capital Now Owns Donuts
Keeping track of the merger and acquisitions over the last while is proving to be headache inducing. A lot of the players have switched around and the number of transactions does not show any sign of slowing down. The latest announcement is that Ethos Capital, the rather secretive investment company, is now the majority shareholder of Donuts. Ethos had previously tried to … [Read more...] about Secretive Investment Company Ethos Capital Now Owns Donuts