ICANN 59 will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa later this month. In ICANN terms it's what they call a "policy forum", so the focus will be on policy work and the meeting won't have as many of the frills you find at the bigger meetings. For those of us in Europe the timezone difference with South Africa is negligible (1 hour ahead of London / Dublin and on the same … [Read more...] about Heading to ICANN 59? Get Some Tips From the Local Host
UK2 Group Acquired by The Hut Group
The M & A activity in the hosting and domain markets continues. Earlier today it was announced that The Hut Group has acquired UK2. The Hut Group isn't in the hosting or domain name space directly, but as a global e-commerce company would be a big consumer of infrastructure to support its brands, which include Zavvi and IWOOT: This represents a unique strategic … [Read more...] about UK2 Group Acquired by The Hut Group
EU Commission Opens Public Consultation on EU Domain
The .eu ccTLD is quite different in that it is run by the European Commission. The Commission contracts EURid to run the registry on their behalf. As the entire thing is setup and managed by the European Union institutions the ccTLD's policies are based on European treaties and laws. Complicated? Yes, but it's still fully functional and one of the larger ccTLDs. Last Friday … [Read more...] about EU Commission Opens Public Consultation on EU Domain
Former Australian ccTLD Board Member Raising Funds for FOI Request
Over the past year there have been a number of fairly significant and at times disturbing changes with the Australian ccTLD. While some focus has been on the current plans to drop AusRegistry / Neustar from providing the registry backend services, other people have been raising concerns around the organisation's governance. Australian domain investor Ned O'Meara has been … [Read more...] about Former Australian ccTLD Board Member Raising Funds for FOI Request
Kelly Salter Elected to Nominet Board
The Nominet elections for a non-executive board member has concluded. Kelly Salter was elected and will serve on the Nominet board. The other votes, including the slightly controversial one to expand the board, yet exclude members will be voted on during the Nominet AGM tomorrow. The election results are broken down in the PDF below: [spiderpowa-pdf … [Read more...] about Kelly Salter Elected to Nominet Board
WHD.India & NamesCon India Registration Open
As you may recall WHD acquired NamesCon, so in the future it'll probably be fairly common for WHD and NamesCon events to run side by side. One of the first events to leverage this new relationship is the upcoming WHD India and NamesCon India which are being held in Mumbai on May 18th and 19th. The venue for both events is the Grand Hyatt Mumbai which looks pretty … [Read more...] about WHD.India & NamesCon India Registration Open
Afilias Wins Contract to Run Backend Registry Services for .io, .ac and .sh
Afilias has won the contract to run the backend registry services for a number of country code domain extensions. The new contract will see Afilias handling the technical side of .io, .ac and .sh which are currently run in-house by The Internet Computer Bureau. In the past few years the .io ccTLD has become popular with startups as an alternative to .com. Details of the … [Read more...] about Afilias Wins Contract to Run Backend Registry Services for .io, .ac and .sh
RIPE Executive Board Nominations Close Next Week
RIPE NCC's executive board will have 3 openings this year, as three of its current members finish their terms. The board positions are honorary, but RIPE NCC will cover costs and expenses involved with carrying out the board duties. Interested? You don't need to be a RIPE member to join the board, but you will need backing of RIPE members: Anyone is eligible to be an … [Read more...] about RIPE Executive Board Nominations Close Next Week
DomainMonster Is No More. All Customers Being Migrated to 123-Reg
Mergers and acquisitions in the hosting and domain name business have become increasingly common over the last couple of years. As a result things have got a tad confusing and some well known brands have either ceased to exist entirely or are in flux. Case in point is Domain Monster. The company was acquired by Host Europe a couple of years ago. Host Europe in turn was acquired … [Read more...] about DomainMonster Is No More. All Customers Being Migrated to 123-Reg
Nominet Election Candidates Videos
Nominet members are voting this month to choose one non-executive director for the Nominet board. The position will have a term of 3 years. They are also being asked to approve a change to the organisation to allow for the appointment of another director without member election. This year's AGM is being held in Nominet's offices in Oxford on April 27th. Members can either … [Read more...] about Nominet Election Candidates Videos