Fall is a Busy Time: New Domains, Prices and More

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By: Adam Eisner on October 15th, 2008
Posted in: OpenSRS Services
Tags: Domains Service
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When I sat down to put together another post for our blog, I quickly realized there was far too much going on both at OpenSRS and the industry to focus on one topic. As a result, here’s a recap of what’s taking place both at home and abroad.

Here at OpenSRS, it’s been a busy few weeks:

• Our UK service is now running on EPP. What is EPP, you ask? It’s the protocol we use to communicate with most major registries, as it simplifies domain name provisioning and management. Until recently, UK did not offer an EPP solution; by moving to EPP, we expect our UK service to become faster and even more reliable.
• .ME domain names can now be registered for one year.
• We have several new promotions and price reductions: The registry fee for .ASIA domains has been cut in half, new .AT registrations are available for only $10, .TV names are only $25 and our .INFO promotion has been extended until the end of the year. You can view all of our domain name discounts here.
• .INFO and .ORG registry fees are set to increase on November 1 and November 9, respectively. The .INFO registry fee will increase by $0.60 to $6.75; .ORG increases by $0.60 to $6.75. Note these fee increases are coming from the Registries themselves, and not OpenSRS.

A fair bit has also been happening outside of OpenSRS:

• The .NAME registry has been acquired by VeriSign, the operator of many major registries including .COM, .NET and .TV. This is an interesting move because it affirms VeriSign’s belief in the personal web, something we’ve believed in for years. We expect little to change on a day-to-day basis, but it is worth noting that .NAME domain names have become increasingly popular among our resellers over the past 18 months.
• The .TEL registry is preparing for launch. This is the newest gTLD to be introduced, another interesting take on how businesses and individuals might use domain names to manage their contact information and disparate websites. Look for more information on our plans to support the .TEL launch shortly.

2009 is fast approaching, but there’s still plenty of news and developments to come. ICANN’s 33rd International Public meeting takes place in a couple of weeks in Cairo, Egypt, and I expect we’ll see some more discount announcements before the year is over. As always, we’ll keep you informed as news develops.

Thanks to Flickr user CTD 2005 for the fall foliage photo and for releasing it under Creative Commons.