ARI Registry Services has signed a unique ten year agreement with Open Universities Australia, the owner of the .study and .courses new TLDs, for strategic consultancy, policy development and ongoing operational management of the two namespaces.

What’s unique about this arrangement ARI notes is that ARI will not only be responsible for the backend registry, but also for the strategic direction of the TLDs and the day-to-day management of the TLDs – which includes administration of the financial, marketing and policy management of the TLDs and all of the necessary work with Registrars. In effect, we’re operating the TLDs on their behalf for a fee and passing back revenue to the TLD owner.

This type of partnership will enable the TLD owners to focus on their core business and have confidence that ARI can deliver long-term profitability for their TLDs. ARI believes there are other generic and brand applicants interested in adopting this model for the management of their TLDs, and the example of .study and .courses will be appealing to these applicants.

“The .study and .courses Top-Level Domains are an integral component of our organisation’s strategic plan and we recognised early on that we needed a partner like ARI Registry Services to help us fully achieve the potential of these digital assets,” said Jose Herrera-Perea, Executive General Manager, Tertiary, Professional and Corporate Education at Open Universities Australia.

“ARI Registry Services has been fantastic in their ability to help us understand the true requirements of operating TLDs and through this we realised that it would be more cost effective and strategically astute to leverage their resources and experience to manage our Top-Level Domains.”

“We will still remain intrinsically involved and provide our significant industry expertise to assist the project. However, this partnership enables us to keep focusing relentlessly on ensuring a high-quality experience for our students and simultaneously have the confidence that we’re working with an organisation that is focused on building long-term profitability in our Top-Level Domains for the sector.”

The model closely follows the approach many Governments have taken with their geo TLDs. ARI currently works with the Victorian (.melbourne) and New South Wales (.sydney) governments in a very similar way.

“Online learning is booming worldwide and Open Universities Australia has secured two of the most powerful terms on the web in the education sector,” said Adrian Kinderis, CEO of ARI Registry Services.

He said there is enormous potential to leverage the strong growth in online education via .study and .courses.

“ARI Registry Services is about turning your Top-Level Domain aspirations into reality. For operators like Open Universities Australia, there are significant barriers to achieving your goals because these applicants lack the time, capability or resources to operate a core piece of mission critical Internet infrastructure,” Mr Kinderis said.

“We offer a comprehensive solution for clients to launch their assets and achieve the benefits of owning a successful Top-Level Domain, but outsource the burden of operational compliance auditing, policy development and the myriad of other components that go into running a namespace.

“For Open Universities Australia, we’re simplifying their operations to remove the complexities so they can maximise the benefit of .study and .courses for their organisation.”

Mr Kinderis said ARI Registry Services performs a similar role for a number of clients, including the Governments of Victoria (.melbourne) and New South Wales (.sydney). This is in addition to continually advocating for the success of the overall program as well as lobbying specific positions for clients.

“ARI Registry Services has always been committed to the success of the program. Offering end-to-end technical and consulting solutions is another way we can go above and beyond for our valued clients.”

ARI also note the .reise auction of their live TLD. ARI wonders if Dotreise (and other applicants considering selling their TLD) had had another option, whereby they could outsource the management of their generic TLD to ARI, retain ownership, and make a profit on their TLD without the burden of actually operating it? That’s the deal they’re offering gTLD owners and they believe ARI is the only provider offering this type of service.