A few months back we announced that we acquired the German registrar EPAG. The reason for the acquisition was that we wanted to significantly bolster our lineup of country-code top-level domains. Today’s release is the first round of new ccTLDs that we’ll add as a result.

In total, there are over 100 new ccTLDs in the first round (including both second and third level domains). From a geographic perspective, we’ve now offer ccTLDs for nearly 80 countries.

Some of the more popular new extensions:

• Poland: .pl
• New Zealand: .nz
• Isle of Man: .im
• South Africa: .za
• Malaysia: .my
• Peru: .pe
• Tonga: .to
• Israel: .il
• Korea: .kr

Full List with Pricing

You can view the full list of the TLDs we offer along with pricing here. We’ve organized things by continent to make it easier to display them all.

If you don’t see a country that you were hoping would be on the list, sit tight — we’re still working on integrating everything that EPAG offers into OpenSRS and we’ll have even more ccTLDs to add to the list in 2012.

More Information

ccTLDs sometimes have residency and other requirements. To help you out with that, we’ve created a handy TLD Reference Chart that gives you all that information in a single document. We’ll be updating it as we add more ccTLDs or as requirements change.

These new ccTLDs are available in the Domain Manager of OpenSRS Control Panel, as well as via the Reseller Web Interface (RWI). By default, searches won’t include the laundry list of all the new ccTLDs, but you can enable those that are of interest to you in the settings area of the RWI. Check out the FAQ for help with doing that.

Documentation including the API docs has been updated to get you started and we’ve started compiling a list of frequently asked questions that we will continue to update as we get feedback from resellers.

We were immediately drawn to EPAG not only because of their offerings (they currently offer more than 280 domain extensions), but because of their expertise and reputation as well. EPAG is known for its fantastic amount of international domain name experience, and we think their knowledge and skills will help greatly as we continue to grow our own domain name business here at OpenSRS.

So, what does this mean for OpenSRS resellers? Well, bringing EPAG on board with OpenSRS will allow us to offer many more domain extensions quickly, backed by a knowledgeable, experienced team with insight into all of them. Over the next several weeks, you’ll begin to see details of our plans to significantly expand the portfolio of domain names we make available through OpenSRS. While we can’t reveal specific details just yet, it’s safe to say you will see significant gTLD and ccTLD coverage improvements, with a particular focus on regions like Europe, South America and Asia. By the end of the year, we expect to have 200 extensions available to ensure your customers have the best chance of finding their perfect domain name.

We are also really excited to welcome EPAG customers to OpenSRS. Going forward, there will be little in the way of change; EPAG systems will continue to operate and EPAG customers and suppliers will continue to deal with the same people, systems and interfaces they are familiar with today. We look forward to working with you, and to providing additional features and services that can help you grow your business.

This is a very exciting day at OpenSRS, and we’re proud to welcome EPAG. Make sure to watch this space in the coming weeks as we announce plans to bolster our roster of domain names offered. You can read more about this acquisition on Tucows.com.

The decision follows years of planning, discussion and deliberation between a multitude of groups, and was met with cheering and a standing ovation. With the approval of the program, hundreds of new domain extensions will be introduced to the Internet. These will range from cities (.NYC is a possibility) to brands (.CANON is planning to apply), and everything in between (extensions like .SPORT, .ECO and .MUSIC will now all be possible).

As a press release ICANN circulated today put it, “New gTLDs will change the way people find information on the Internet and how businesses plan and structure their online presence. Virtually every organization with an online presence could be affected in some way.” It is certainly a significant development.

First new gTLDs expected to be live in 2013

Now that the program has been approved, applications for new extensions are scheduled to be accepted between January and April 2012. Once this application window closes, the full list of applicants will be published, and successful applications will be awarded by November. This will likely pave the way for new extensions to be live in 2013. ICANN intends to get a global communications campaign underway shortly to increase awareness of new TLDs. (As I write this, ICANN is outlining to conference delegates their plan to conduct a comprehensive communication program in five major geographic regions.)

Here at OpenSRS, we’re already looking forward to the opportunities the program will provide our resellers. We’ll be watching program developments closely as it gains momentum, and we will begin to review the extensions we think could be of interest to resellers as applicants come forward (and we’re always interested in hearing from you on the subject, too).

Find out how it will affect you at HostingCon 2011

With the program now underway, we’ll be providing regular updates, so definitely keep an eye on this blog as developments occur. And if you happen to be in the San Diego area in early August, I’ll be holding a session on what new TLDs mean to web hosting companies at HostingCon on August 8.

It was a privilege to be in the room here in Singapore when this historic program was approved. It was a momentous day for domain names, and the atmosphere here since the vote has been positively electric. As the program gets underway, I look forward to the innovation and excitement that the program will bring to the domain name world.

Image courtesy ICANN

The conference featured a wide range of keynote speakers and sessions. Among the highlights was an update on the new TLD process from ICANN SVP Kurt Pritz (pictured below), a keynote by .CO registry CEO Juan Diego Calle on the runaway success of their re-launch, and an executive roundtable discussion (which included our CEO, Elliot Noss) on a wide variety of topics related to new TLDs.

In between the keynotes and excellent hallway conversations, I also attended some great sessions. And at the end of the two-day conference, I went home with several key takeaways:

• Registrars are keen to carry new TLDs, but will be discerning about which they choose to sell. In the “Working With Registrars” session, I appeared on a panel with representatives from Go Daddy, VeriSign, Oversee and Network Solutions to discuss the opportunities and challenges new TLD operators faced when promoting their extension to registrars. It quickly became apparent that registrars were most interested in offering TLDs that had a compelling value proposition, would be easy to implement, and would be accompanied by strong marketing support.
• People are still holding their cards very close to their chest. Obviously, lots of bids have already surfaced (here’s a partial list of potential applicants). However, some attendees were still hesitant to reveal details about their application. To me, this indicated we may have only seen a small fraction of interested applicants thus far.
• The launch of new TLDs is not a matter of if, but when. Barring an eleventh-hour turnaround, the new TLD program will be approved and more forward. The next question is: when will it happen? Latest estimates have new TLDs fully operational by 2013, but that’s not a timeline set in stone. More details should emerge following ICANN’s upcoming international meeting in San Francisco.

The conference was a great opportunity to discuss one of the biggest Internet developments in recent years with some of the industry’s leaders. Once ICANN approves the new TLD program, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the announcement of the next .nxt conference.

Thanks to .net conference organizer Kieren McCarthy for the photos of the show and for putting them out under a Creative Commons License.

New gTLDs

On the new gTLD front, ICANN’s recent decision to allow vertical integration – which would allow registrars to operate registries, and vice versa – cleared a major roadblock in the new gTLD process. With this contentious issue settled, there was hope in some circles that ICANN would approve the most recent version of the Draft Applicant Guidebook (DAG), which outlines how to go about applying for a new gTLD, and officially launch the start of the new gTLD process.

While ICANN did not outright approve the DAG nor officially launch the application process in Cartagena, there was reason to be optimistic moving forward. ICANN’s board passed a resolution at the meeting stating they considered many of the thornier issues related to new gTLDs (including trademark protection, root zone scaling and the economic impact) to now be closed. This in itself is a major step forward in the process. However, the Board also noted that there were still outstanding issues, including concerns from the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), which is comprised of representatives of more than 100 governments worldwide. The GAC provides advice to ICANN on key public policy issues.

As a result of the GAC’s concerns and in an effort to resolve the outstanding issues that remain in the gTLD process, the board resolved to have an extended, face-to-face meeting with the GAC in February 2011. The meeting will take place a few weeks before the next ICANN international meeting in San Francisco. While most of those involved in new gTLDs were disappointed that the process was not outright approved, most of the people I spoke to were encouraged with the progress that had been made. Many of those same people are hoping for closure to the entire gTLD process by the San Francisco meeting, but whether that actually happens remains to be seen.

Progress on .XXX

There was also some progress made at the meeting with regard to the proposed .XXX extension (which is separate of the new gTLD process). To recap: This adult-oriented extension has been discussed since the early part of the decade. ICANN and ICM Registry, the private company that wishes to introduce XXX, have historically disagreed on whether ICM cleared all the necessary hurdles to get the extension approved. An independent review panel eventually determined ICANN did not follow its own policies and procedures when it refused to proceed with .XXX, and at last week’s meeting, the board announced it intended to enter into an agreement with ICM Registry, subject to the GAC’s advice – another issue to be tackled in the extended meeting.

ICANN’s 40th International Meeting

So, in the end, significant progress was made on two high-profile issues, but they were not resolved entirely. This sets up a very interesting meeting in San Francisco. The approval of new gTLDs in a meeting in a city so intertwined with technology would make for a great story. And it would be good news for those whom have been waiting for their approval for so long.

Given .EU’s importance to us, I was very pleased to be appointed the North American representative to the registry’s Registrar Advisory Board earlier this year. EURid, the .EU registry operator, convenes a meeting of the Board three times a year to gather feedback from the registrar community. Discussion topics range from key registry performance metrics to upcoming features and releases, and can also involve a great deal of back and forth between attendees about the registry’s direction.

Overall, the discussions generally stay within the Board’s mandated scope, which is to (and I will borrow directly from the registry here):

• Advise the EURid Board on issues where the EURid Board might need to consult the registrar community;
• Consider and bring to the attention of the EURid Board any policy or operational issue that might be of future importance or affect the .EU domain space;
• Submit input to the long-term strategies;
• Channel the feedback of the larger stakeholder community into EURid;
• Help strengthen relationships with the registrar community;
• Support EURid in its interactions with other stakeholders.

As a representative of a registrar with a particularly unique business model, I try to keep my eyes and ears open for issues and topics that could have a particular impact on resellers. The Board, which is comprised largely of retail-focused registrars, can sometimes get deeply involved in discussions and suggestions that don’t necessarily fit well with reseller-focused business models. As such, I always try to make sure our view is heard.

To EurID’s credit, they could simply ignore the Board and its input, and continue operating the registry as they see fit. However, EURid staff and management are actively involved with the Board, and are constantly soliciting feedback. This is something few of the registries that registrars work with do on a regular basis.

Although I’m only a few months into a three-year mandate, I have found the experience thus far extremely valuable and rewarding. I look forward to continuing to help shape policy for one of the world’s largest ccTLDs in the future.

A little bit of background

The methodology I refer to as “domain search 1.0” is unfortunately employed by most web hosting companies today. It is an old, archaic way of thinking about domain search. Common symptoms include:

• Forcing potential customers to enter ‘www.yourname.com’ search strings;
• Not allowing customers to register ccTLDs, or even gTLDs not named .com, .net or .org;
• The absence of suggestions for related search terms.

The most common objection I hear from web hosting companies is they don’t see any value in paying attention to domain name search, until I explain domain search 2.0.

Domain search 2.0

The domain search 2.0 approach treats domain names like the key component they are to the web hosting sales process. Virtually every web hosting company puts domain search front and centre on their website, but the technology used to power the search is often archaic. Domain search 2.0, on the other hand, treats the domain search box like a “magic box” – that is, an open, free-text box that will accept any input and spit out highly relevant domain names.

Our research shows this not only greatly enhances the end user experience, but can lead to a 10 to 15 percent lift in domain name sales if implemented properly. It also results in sales of more value-added services by attracting higher-margin customers.

How does it work?

The key to domain search 2.0 is our powerful NAME_SUGGEST call, which we’ve been iterating upon for more than two years. After our announcement today, it contains four key components:

• Domain name lookup: The “lookup” parameter will take any text and turn it into a domain name search, whether you enter “www.hockey.com”, “hockey league” or “hockey@league.com”.
• Domain name suggestions: The “suggestion” parameter will quickly return results of available names based on the original query using technology from DomainsBot, the industry leader in domain search technology. A new feature now allows you to also specify language if you choose to do so, enabling results to be returned in English, French, Spanish or Italian. Our research now shows that up to 15 percent of registrations using domain search 2.0 are from our domain name suggestions.
• Premium names: The “premium” parameter checks our premium names database of over one million names to see if any related names are for sale on the domain name aftermarket. As of today, suggested premium names are also displayed by DomainsBot, leading to a much better search experience.
• Personal names: A new “personal” parameter also allows you to now search for names associated with our personal names service as well.

We’ve also baked in a new “max_wait_time” parameter that lets you specify the number of seconds that the NAME_SUGGEST command can run, and return as many results as can be found in that time period. This will allow you to build real-time, AJAX-enabled domain searches if you choose to do so.

Putting it all together

Have you thought about your domain search lately? We now have the speed, tools and data to equip your business with a high-powered search that will lead to more sales. There’s more information on our website.

Looking for some more techie information about the new API?

Look no further! Read this post and see some code examples. And to dig even deeper, the Developers/API Forum is the place to be.

As a result of this action by CNNIC, we have no choice but to suspend new .CN registrations through OpenSRS. We are in the process of disabling new registrations and we expect to have suspended registrations by end of day today, Tuesday, January 5th, 2009 (EST).

Please note that renewals and transfers will continue to be supported. Availability checks for .CN domains via the API and Reseller Web Interface will continue to work, however, orders for new .CN domains will fail.

CNNIC says the suspension will allow them to implement a better methodology to verify registrant information from overseas registrations. You will remember that in mid-December, CNNIC put into place new requirements for supporting documentation required to be submitted with new registrations.

There is no timetable for the resumption of new registrations. We’ll keep you posted as new information becomes available.

Under the new policy, individuals are effectively barred from registering .CN domain names as CNNIC now requires a paper application which includes a business seal, company business license (photocopy), and registrant ID (photocopy).

More information:

• China Global Times article
• CircleID post

At this time, we are working with Neustar, our registration provider for .CN domains, to determine the exact details of the new policy. It is not yet known what impact this new policy will have on .CN registrations.

For the time being, we continue to process registrations as usual.

We will update the Reseller Blog with further information as we receive it.

The announcement garnered a lot of attention from our resellers and international media alike. It essentially approves the introduction of IDNs “after the dot” for country code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs). Currently, IDNs are only available “before the dot”, so the extension “after the dot” (such as .CN or .IN) has to remain in latin characters. Not so under the new ccTLD IDN structure.

So the question is, what has changed since the announcement? The answer is: nothing yet. ICANN’s announcement only opened the door for applications, and did not actually result in any new extensions being introduced to the domain name system just yet. Individual country representatives and ccTLD operators still have to apply for their IDN extensions, and systems will need to be adjusted (both by registrars and registries) to make the names available. As a registrar, we will start evaluating them as the ccTLDs we support start introducing them, but there are few time-lines available just yet. As we get more information, we’ll definitely be providing details.

In the meantime, ICANN has more information on the IDN fast track process for those looking to learn more.