Infrastructure that works well rarely stands out. The internet infrastructure provided by Cloudflare, which provides a content delivery network that safeguards millions of sites online, is a notable exception. Last year, Cloudflare came under intense pressure to stop providing its services to 8chan, the online message board popular among white supremacists, after the gunmen in three separate shootings posted manifestos on the site prior to their attacks. 8chan had relied on the company’s content delivery network to keep its message board online and accessible. After initially saying it had no legal obligation to do so, the company eventually relented and denied 8chan the use of its services.
In the latest Domain Pulse Q&A series looking at the year in review and year ahead, we speak to ICANN board member Chris Disspain. Chris discusses the progress of the next round of new gTLD applications, the challenges of GDPR has thrown at ICANN relating to WHOIS, a 2019 highlight being finalisation of the new strategic plan especially in the way the ICANN community focused and pulled together to get it done and then what the future may hold for him after he completes his term on the ICANN board. He also would like to see a little more kindness “in the ICANN context”.
Domain Pulse: What were the highlights, lowlights and challenges of 2019 in the domain name industry, both for you and/or the industry in general?
Chris Disspain: The challenge of GDPR and its relevance to WHOIS has consumed an immense amount of time in 2019. And universal acceptance is a real issue for many especially but not exclusively in the IDN world.
The finalisation of the new strategic plan has been a highlight especially the way that the ICANN community focused and pulled together to get it done. And the streamlining of reviews work!
There are always lowlights. Calling them out isn’t necessarily helpful.
DP: What are you looking forward to in 2020?
CD: Enjoying my last year as a board member, making a difference and riding off into the sunset….. only to return later in 2021 wearing a different hat…..Or perhaps not!
DP: What challenges and opportunities do you see for the year ahead?
CD: Every issue has both a challenges and opportunities … Some examples for us are GDPR, various contractual matters, the sub-pro work, ccNSO work on retirement of ccTLDs, the ongoing work on IGOs acronyms, the ongoing community work-load and so on.
DP: How have new gTLDs fared in 2019?
CD: Some good, some bad I expect. But given that different gTLDs have different measures of success that’s quite a hard question to address. A brand likely doesn’t care about registration levels. A geographic may have a limited market and be happy with that. I guess the only real test will be to see what sort of applications come in in a next round.
DP: What progress do you see on a new round of applications for new gTLDs in 2020?
CD: Significant but it’s a long track that needs to be carefully navigated. As a board member (actually the only current board member) who was on the board from the beginning of the last gTLD round I know many of the issues that will need to be dealt with in the updated policy. Some of these are complicated and contentious but I’m hopeful that with the extraordinary work of the Sub-pro WG and the support of the community generally we’ll get there reasonably soon.
DP: What one thing would you like to see addressed or changed in the domain name industry?
CD: Well, in the ICANN context, I think a little more kindness would be good. And a ‘fix’ for the structural challenges within the GNSO would make a huge difference to the ability of the ICANN multi-stakeholder model to deal effectively and efficiently with the constantly changing industry dynamic.
Chris was also the founding CEO of Australia’s ccTLD policy and regulatory body, auDA.
Previous Q&As in this series were with:
Loïc Damilaville, Market Research Manager at Afnic – here
What happens when a Brand changes its company name, which has a .brand new gTLD, such as through a takeover, merger or just a name change? Thereâs currently no quick process in place to allow them to obtain a new gTLD to reflect the change. This is one of the many issues raised by Loïc Damilaville, Market Research Manager at Afnic who manages the French ccTLD as well as 17 new gTLDs, in todayâs Q&A looking at the year just gone and the year ahead.
Damilaville delves
into many issues facing the industry including growth, or lack of growth, rates
for top-level domains, the financial issues forcing some gTLD operators to sell
their gTLDS, the vulnerability of some TLDs to Chinese domainers, future rounds
of new gTLD applications, challenges faced by smaller TLDs, particularly new
gTLDs. Here heâs concerned about how to get registrars to carry them and
without a presence on platforms, Damilaville is also concerned about how the
industry is flourishing for many
of the
established players, but quite hostile to newcomers and real innovations.
Thereâs a lot more in Damilavilleâs Q&A, so please read on!
Domain Pulse: What were the highlights, lowlights and challenges of 2019 in the domain name industry, both for you and/or the industry in general?
Loïc Damilaville: In terms of trends, 2019 has seen the continuing decline of Legacy TLDs, apart from .COM which is enjoying an enviable – even if surprising – growth rate. Surprising because with its nearly 150 million domains it still grows by 5% a year. Is this single TLD “aspirating” the market? What is driving this growth?
“Penny
TLDs”, that is to say TLDs whose domain names are “given” or sold at a very low
price, have increased their volumes, but we doubt that these millions of domain
names are actually used. They shall be considered as highly volatile and not
relevant to assess the good or bad health of the market.
The
market
remains vulnerable to the domaining effect: in 2019, lots of Chinese domainers have
transferred their investments from new gTLDs
to .TW and this one has literally exploded in a few months. At the present
time, we see the reverse effect with a .TW affected by
deletions and a .ICU boosted, quite at the same time, by new creations.
It may mean that these domaining waves are done by a relatively small number of
coordinated big investors.
This
phenomenon affects the stability
of the market. For instance one
may consider
that new gTLDs have boomed at the end
of 2019 but this boom is almost 100%
caused by the
.ICU effect, with most of the other new
gTLDs experiencing a decrease in their new
registrations. A global improvement in volumes doesn’t mean that most of the
players are doing well.
This
situation drives some registries faced with financial difficulties to sell their TLDs to
big players which are also fighting increasingly on the back-end registry
market. What is interesting as regards to these back-end activities is
that they are researched not only by registries of small TLDs unable to get
some costly technologies and infrastructures by themselves, but also by
registries of very big TLDs, maybe for the same reasons, with a difference of
scale. This is the sign of a kind of professionalisation
of the market, but also of a concentration
process, with a handful of
players on the worldwide level. On the local or regional level, lots of
middle-sized players are managing some geoTLDs and/or .BRAND TLDs.
The
concentration
continues at the registry
and registrar levels, some back-ends being both of them. This phenomenon
requires (and is allowed by) the growing presence of investment funds in the
capital of these players. Although made with dubious methods, the .ORG takeover
by Ethos Capital is just one example of this structural evolution of the
market.
The
Second Round
is a topic, but more an icy one
than a hot one. We should wait for Winter to leave ;-).
Among
the very hot topics of 2019 we have noticed security issues,
fights against all kind of DNS abuses, the painful
consequences of GDPR for the IP community, and the emergence of services
combining data, monitoring and qualification of domain names in terms of
notoriety, risks etc.
Referring
to our “7As” model (*) we
shall consider that 2019 has not seen great improvements in Awareness,
Amplitude, Advantages, Access, Adoption, Activity nor Affect. The domain name
market may be a little too self-oriented and that could explain some of the
difficulties met by new TLDs to
“meet their market”.
LD: The main trends of the market should remain the same: decline in Legacy gTLDs, and maybe a 4 percent growth for .COM due to their forecast price increase.
ccTLDs
will be affected by the .TW and .UK deletes, but apart from this phenomenon the
growth should not be above 3-4%.
New gTLDs will still be split between high volumes
generic
TLDs and the others. Geos seem to be
stronger than Communities and little Generics but the average volume remains
low. Brands will continue to progress slowly but surely. They are the most
promising segment of this market.
Security,
monitoring and data issues
will have more and more audience in relation with the DNS Abuse efforts. Tools
designed to manage the GDPR limitations will enjoy a strong interest since the needs for identifying and tracking
“abusers” have not vanished, those “abusers” feeling encouraged by the anonymity guaranteed by GDPR
and the failure of ICANN to provide any reliable, quick and low-cost solution
to rights owners.
DP: What challenges and opportunities do you see for the year ahead?
LD: The big challenge for domain names is to exist by themselves, that is to say, to be actually perceived by users as added-value components of their internet presence and not just something technical, necessary to be reached on the internet, whether it is a .COM, .FR or .ANYTHING.
Another
big challenge is for
the registrars to find their way into a more diversified domain name world. One
of the main burdens
for new gTLDs is to reach their
potential customers, a task they can’t do if they are not referenced by the
registrars which actually reach these customers.
But registrars seem to lack enthusiasm to sell new gTLDs
which are not at first sought
by their customers, and a vicious circle is in force: big registrars proposes
to their customers the TLDs they already know (and buy), and the new gTLDs
are kept in the shadows and not bought as the
customers don’t know them very well and do not trust them.
We
may also mention the “Next Round” as a challenge for the ICANN
Community, but – in relation with what precedes – also for the market players
in general. In the current organisation of the market, more
generic TLDs will create only more confusion without being able to reach their customers. The
situation of .BRANDs and .GEOs are very different because in both cases the
“market” already exists: big companies will become used
to consider that having their own TLD is a “must have”. And GeoTLDs
are appealing to the
feelings of proximity and local pride of their “natural” customers.
This
leads to another big challenge. Apart
from the high-volume oriented ones, the new or future TLDs will be more and
more focused on niches, whether they
be geographical or sectorial. This means
that we will see a lot of TLDs with very low volumes compared to those we are
used to see. In order to allow them to be financially viable, there MUST be a
deep thought about the global financial organisation
of the market.
At
the ICANN level,
the $25,000
flat fee is a burden that strangles many little TLDs and obliges them to sell
their domain names at uncompetitive prices compared to .COM and big ccTLDs.
At
the back-end level, things are more difficult to analyse but we should see in the future the emergence of some low-cost
solutions targeting little TLDs and some
value-added solutions targeting big TLDs
or TLDs wanting to propose very specific services
to their registrants. The homogeneous market as we know it nowadays is probably
condemned but the transition to new
models will take a long time. The growing influence of financial people in the
management of TLDs should be an
opportunity by providing some new
means, but it
can also be a threat because
innovations may imperil the forecasted
Return on Investment rates. When you buy a cash cow, you do not want it to
become a risky bet.
DP: What progress do you see on a new round of applications for new gTLDs in 2020?
LD: There will be progress but it would be hazardous to say that everything should be settled at the end of the year. One main question â that is not addressed by the focus on process â is to ask what kind of «new round» we really want, and basically if we want a «round» or a continuous process.
It
seems very logical and strategically important to allow the .BRANDs to benefit from
a special, expedited and
permanent process as
soon as the candidates are eligible to certain rules avoiding «optimization» by some «smart»
guys. There are lots of reasons
in favour of this special
process: these TLDs are for
internal use only, and since the big companies are often changing their names,
creating some new trademarks, etc., they should be able to change their
.BRANDs when they need to do so. For the time
being, having a .BRAND is a strategic strength if you intend to keep the same
name for the next decades, but it can also become a trap if you are obliged to
change your companyâs name because of a merger or any other event.
The
Geo-TLDs should also be allowed fast procedures if they are requested by
legitimate authorities.
The
fact that ICANN is only able to provide a «round» every ten years is not a proof of its
efficiency. That said, we are aware that it depends strongly on its own
Community and should not be considered the only responsible of
these delays.
DP: What one thing would you like to see addressed or changed in the domain name industry?
LD: Lots of the points we could address have already been talked about. The main issue is that some problems or deficiencies, or even some threats to some players, are benefitting others, and reciprocally. The situation of the domain name industry results mostly from compromises built through power relations between its members and their «external» partners such as governments, right owners, customers etc.
These
compromises are not fully optimal and many of them are so weak that they are
constantly challenged by the dissatisfied parties. One may remark that it is the story of
life: but the
parties involved should make an effort to reach a long-term win-win deal more than
seeking for deals which only protect their own interests
in the short term.
The global situation for this market â still flourishing for the established players, but quite hostile to newcomers and real innovations â would be improved by a new approach of the challenges it faces. It is still waiting for its «New Deal» and will probably still wait for a long time, not for the better.
Organisations, on average, receive benefits 2.7 times their investment, and more than 40% are seeing benefits that are at least twice that of their privacy spend according to Ciscoâs 2020 Data Privacy Benchmark Study. Privacy has become a big issue globally in recent years, particularly following the introduction of the European Unionâs General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that caused domain name registrars and registries to make major changes to their practices.
The Cisco study, released in observance of International
Data Privacy Day, also found that up from 40% last year, over 70% of organisations
now say they receive significant business benefits from privacy efforts beyond
compliance, including better agility, increased competitive advantage and
improved attractiveness to investors, and greater customer trust.
Other benefits included companies with higher accountability scores (as assessed using the Centre for Information Policy Leadershipâs Accountability Wheel, a framework for managing and assessing organisational maturity) experience lower breach costs, shorter sales delays, and higher financial returns while 82% of organisations see Privacy Certifications as a Buying Factor. These included privacy certifications such as the ISO 27701, EU/Swiss-US Privacy Shield, and APEC Cross Border Privacy Rules system becoming an important buying factor when selecting a third-party vendor. India and Brazil topped the list with 95% of respondents agreeing external certifications are now an important factor.
In a blog post, Robert Waitman, Director, Data Privacy Security and Trust Office at Cisco said âthe results of this study highlight that privacy is good for business, beyond any compliance requirements.â Waitman writes Cisco recommends organisations:
Invest in privacy beyond the legal minimum; most organizations are seeing very positive returns on their privacy spending.
Work to obtain external privacy certifications; these have become an important factor in the buying process.
Build in privacy accountability and maturity to achieve security benefits, reduced sales delays, and higher returns.
Ciscoâs 2020 Data Privacy Benchmark Study is their third
annual look into corporate data privacy practices worldwide and shows growing
tangible benefits for businesses that adopt strong privacy practices.
The study is based on results from a double-blind survey of
over 2,800 security professionals in organisations of various sizes across 13
countries. It provides deep insight into the state of privacy a year and a half
after the effective date of the European Unionâs General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR), widely considered a turning point on how organisations
control and manage the use of personal data. Customer demands for increased
data protection and privacy, the ongoing threat of data breaches and misuse by
both unauthorised and authorised users, and preparation for the GDPR and
similar laws around the globe spurred many organisations to make considerable
privacy investments â which are now delivering strong returns.
The European Unionâs General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), introduced in May 2018 but adopted in 2016, has been a focus in the domain name world due to required changes to contact information that has been required for WHOIS and ICANNâs ham-fisted attempts to deal with the situation which led to ICANN losing multiple court actions and exemptions provided to many registrars located within the EU regarding information they were required to collect under their Registrar Accreditation Agreements. Additionally, almost all, if not all, country code top level domain (ccTLD) registries located either within the EU or who allowed EU citizens to register their domains were required to make changes as to the information they required registrars to collect upon registering a domain name.
Criminal activities continue to be an issue and challenge for the domain name industry, and itâs one of the main issues addressed in todayâs Q&A with Katrin Ohlmer, CEO and founder of DOTZON GmbH. Ohlmer cites it as a highlight and lowlight â a highlight because the industry is attempting to tackle domain name abuse and a lowlight with phishing, malware, botnets and pharming being threats to consumers putting the whole industry in a bad light and seemingly not interested in fixing the issue. Ohlmer also sees the growth in usage of .brand new gTLDs as another highlight while she says the whole domain industry could improve in terms of customer experience and customer-centric marketing and communications.
Domain Pulse: What
were the highlights, lowlights and challenges of 2019 in the domain name
industry, both for you and/or the industry in general?
Katrin Ohlmer:
Highlights
A new awareness has
been reached within the industry that many registries and registrars are
responsible and taking actions against abuse, including the âFramework to Mitigate
Abuseâ. We started to communicate our efforts better to the community and will
continue these efforts in 2020.
We noticed a growing use
of domain names of .brands including the likes of .audi, .dvag and .mma â all
with well beyond 1,000 registered domain names. We spotted quite a number of
.brand domains âin the wildâ – in print advertising, on vehicles and social
media ads.
Lowlights
The ever-present existence of phishing, malware, botnets and pharming threats to consumers puts the whole industry in a bad light seemingly not interested in fixing this issue. The industry has to improve its communication activities within the community and to all stakeholders in 2020.
In 2020, we would like
ICANN to focus again on their mission âto ensure the stable and secure
operation of the Internet’s unique identifier systemsâ.
Challenges
GDPR brought to our
industry new challenges and burdens. GDPR and its consequences are an asset for
our industry that personal data are not published anymore. Even though this
negatively affects the interests of the trademark industry.
DP: What are you looking forward to in 2020?
KO: Iâm really looking forward to welcoming the ICANN community to Hamburg in Autumn and showcasing the broad use of .hamburg domain names in the city. With and ICANN meeting taking place only for the second time ever, it will be a great opportunity for the local and national Internet community to meet the ICANN community.
DP: What challenges and opportunities do you see for the year ahead?
KO: As the next round of new TLDs is still ahead of us, .brands including some of our customers have the opportunity to showcase the many usage scenarios which they have already implemented and will be implemented in 2020.
The whole industry has
to increase their communication efforts about DNS Abuse to demonstrate that
they take abuse seriously. Further debates are likely whether registries and registrars
will mitigate abuse beyond DNS like counterfeiting, but hopefully ICANN will
stay within its remits.
Further consolidation
will happen between registries, registrars and vertically integrated groups. We
might also see further investments from equity investment companies within the
industry.
Tech trends like
Artificial Intelligence, Bitcoin, Internet of Things will improve our industry
â whether process-wise, with new products or communication channels.
The topic how ICANN
will consider in its actions the Public Interest â not only at the Board level,
but also within the wider community â will be a challenge. A first step has
been made with the proposal drafted by the Board, and further activities will
likely happen in 2020.
DP: How have new gTLDs fared in 2019?
KO: We observed that the diversity of TLDs being actively used across the globe is slowly but constantly increasing. Therefore we expect a steady uptake over the next few years and establishing the new gTLDs as a valid alternative to former TLDs.
A number of the new
gTLDs are doing very well â they are chosen by users because they have a
meaning like .realestate, .consulting and .rich, some provide local and
regional identity to users like .berlin, .bzh and .nyc, and some represent the
brand online like .audi, .google and .edeka. The more generic TLDs are, the
less differentiation and meaning they have making it harder to develop a
long-term value proposition beyond the price.
DP: What progress do you see on a new round of applications for new gTLDs in 2020?
KO: We are currently finalising the last open issues within the Subsequent Procedures PDP Working Group. I expect that the substantive progress of our ongoing work will continue in 2020, leading to a final report being sent to the GNSO Council and later to the ICANN Board for approval.
DP: What one thing would you like to see addressed or changed in the domain name industry?
KO: I tend to repeat myself: I still think the whole domain industry could improve in terms of customer experience and customer-centric marketing and communications including lower barriers to set-up a website, easing the whole domain registration process, and setting up an email account.
For decades, customers were attracted by prices. This led to many registrations with no or very limited usage. Now itâs time to encourage existing customers to use the product they bought and improve processes for new customers making it easier to bring their website with their new domain online.
[HEFICED news release] In September, South African media revealed an elaborate fraud scheme where IPv4 addresses reportedly worth at least $30 million on the second-hand market were stolen or misappropriated from large multinational companies based in South Africa.
The registered owners were mostly not
aware of any violation of their properties, as the attackers exploited
complex ownership structures. In addition, the legitimate owners were
often unfamiliar with the considerable asset value presented by their
stocks of IPv4 addresses.
Among the address sets stolen were a number of especially valuable
âlegacy blocksâ, sets of IP addresses that were assigned before the
establishment of regional internet registries (RIRs) and are thus
completely free to use.
âWe often notice that companies that obtained large pools of IPv4s
when they were still readily available are not aware that they are now
quite valuable. Thousands of addresses used to be free, now a single
legacy address can be worth as much as $30,â comments Vincentas Grinius,
CEO of Heficed, a company offering network infrastructure solutions
that center on the procurement and management of IP addresses.
IPv4 fraud has become an increasingly pressing issue in the past
decade. This is because the omnipresent IP addresses are actually a
finite resource. Their original sources, the RIRs serving a continental
region each, have all nearly run out of original, free-to-use address
blocks within the last ten years, with AFRINIC being the only one still
allocating them with relative ease.
Since IPs are localized, however, African addresses only serve
limited use â to operate a server within Europe or America, a user needs
a European or American IP. This is especially relevant for
latency-dependent customers, like those who operate within fields of
tight competition.
Whoever needs IPv4 addresses thus has to obtain them on the
second-hand market. Like in any commodity market, fraud constitutes a
problem, too.
Even in highly-regulated jurisdictions like the United States,
fraudsters still go after the high-value resource. With proper attention
and dedication, even stolen addresses can be recovered, but this often
takes considerable time and legal investments. Most importantly, it is
often impossible for large-scale corporate owners to properly track IPv4
ownership themselves.
âAs with all complex, immaterial goods, like stocks or virtual
assets, intermediary network infrastructure providers fulfil more than
just the function of traders. They market, manage and care for their
clientsâ resources,â says Grinius.
Dealing with technicalities like IP addresses is often the least
priority large companies have, if they are aware of the issue at all.
âThe news from South Africa clearly shows that oversight is the main
issue. Mostly without notice, IPv4s have become a hugely profitable
opportunity that can be utilized if the proper care is taken. Heficed is
among the specialist companies that offers this oversight and care, and
thus provides security to clients who might not even have known that
their assets were in danger,â Grinius adds.
Heficed believes that companies must take charge of their own
IPv4-security, since institutional help is unlikely to arrive.
Officially, the protocol is being phased-out in favour of IPv6, a
process that has only very slowly advanced since IPv6âs introduction in
1998. This long-term solution is still far off: according to Googleâs
own statistics, less than 30% of users have access to their services
using IPv6.
âFor the time being,â Grinius concludes, âthe only way to avoid potentially ruinous security breaches is to work with trustworthy partners in procuring and managing IPv4 addresses. With high demand encouraging fraud, the existing authorities are simply overstrained.â
NamesCon Global has grown over the years to become the
largest annual domain-industry conference. Itâs gone from being a domain investor-centric
gathering to an event for everything domain-related, from channel providers and
software vendors to domain investors and end-customers. And now as part of that
growth theyâve moved to crowdsourcing for submissions for some of their
sessions for this yearâs theme: 360 Degrees Around the Dot.
The move from Las Vegas is also a reinvention of sorts: theyâre
going to Austin to establish the Domain Economic Forum,
taking a broader and deeper look at the ecosystem in which we work and strive
to innovate.
NamesCon is not looking for pitches of specific products or
solutions but rather they want to see an industry overview, surfacing potential
large-scale opportunities over the next decade. Successful submissions will
round out the current programme.
NamesCon explain theyâre looking for submissions in the
following three clusters:
Quantifying the Domain Ecosystem
What is the true size of the domain industry? They explain
that several parts of the ecosystem are not quantifiedâat least not yet. In
particular weâre thinking of the secondary domain market: the opacity here is
due to the fact that, for several reasons, most secondary-market transactions
are not reported.
Theyâre seeking session ideas that will help a broader
audience to understand the size and scope of the domain industry as a whole,
and specifically in the secondary marketâand the opportunities that lie within.
Big-Picture Market Opportunities
They want to dig more deeply into liquid domains as digital
assets or a store of value, such as long-tail registrations for brand
protection. They also want to explore the future of identity management, as
well as next-generation DNS services as a driver for the domain industry: Right
now, email and websites are based on domains, but what comes next?
The Buyerâs Perspective
NamesCon want as many buyers as possible at the Domain
Economic Forum, and this means a diversity of needs and use cases. Theyâre
looking for buyers from various backgrounds and industries to talk about the
experience buying domains from investors; as well as how they approach brand
protection. They want to learn more about real-life buying behaviour,
budgeting, and other factors that make or break a deal.
NamesCon Global have announced a slight change in the dates
for their 2020 event to be held in Austin, Texas, for the first time, from 29 January
to 1 February, a 3 day delay on the previously announced dates. And the reason
for the change, in part, is partly because of a day at the beach.
âOur NamesCon Europe 2019 Beach Day was such a huge success
that we knew we had to do a dedicated fun day in Austin,â said NamesCon CEO
Soeren von Varchmin. âSince our program for that day can only be done on a
weekend, weâve had to shift the event dates to 29-February 1. So it starts a
few days later than before.â (Also, they say they canât mess with Super Bowl
Sunday)
NamesCon will kick off on Wednesday the 29th with Beginner
and Expert tracks as well as the opening reception. Then NamesConGlobal moves
into two action-packed days of programming. These will include the exhibition
hall and the famous live domain auction. It will wrap up with a day of fun and networking
âout of the officeâ, so to speak.
âI canât tell you yet what the fun day will be,â said Head
of NamesCon Helga Neumer. âItâs still a surprise!â
âThe date change also allows us to better realise our vision
for NamesCon Global 2020, which weâre calling âThe Domain Economic Forumâ,â
says von Varchmin. âNamesCon has evolved from an investor-focused event into
the central event for everything domain-related. Weâre happy to bring in domain
name investors, registries, registrars, internet service providers, attorneys,
brand managers, affiliate marketing companies, domain marketplaces, parking
companies, financial service providers, and individual end-users. Weâre looking
beyond the right or left of the dot: now weâre taking you 360 degrees around
the dot!â
âOur team has been going back and forth between Cologne and Austin to get things ready, even though the event is six months away,â said Neumer. âItâs a lot of flying, but itâs worth it!â The team has scored a new partnership with the Omni Hotel Austin Downtown: itâs described as a cool, chic spot with a rooftop pool. The special NamesCon rate is $200 less than the OMNIâs average price per night.
Since its founding in 2013, NamesConâs flagship event has been held in Las Vegas.
The United Arab Emirates has launched its official
government website, its official portal that provides public access to
information, services, projects, strategies and laws in the UAE using the u.ae
domain name.
The new domain name, developed in cooperation between The
Prime Ministerâs Office at the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs and the Future and
the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), is composed of the initials
of the United Arab Emirates (u.ae). The first letter is the domain name, while
the second and third letters form the UAEâs country code Top Level Domain
“.ae”.
The official portal of the UAE Government is a comprehensive
platform for all government services and information, as well as important data
and information related to vital sectors in the UAE, including education,
economy, business, infrastructure, residency regulations, health, national
policies and strategies, and others.
“The new domain name of the UAE Government portal
embodies the meaning of innovation, which is simple and easy to remember,â said
Commenting on the new domain name, Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, TRA Director
General. âIt also reflects the centrality of the people in the government’s
concerns with its various projects, programmes and plans. The adoption of the
new domain name comes at an important stage of the digital transformation, in
which we enter the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the smart city, and
the government of Artificial Intelligence. We are guided by our wise leadership
directives to adopt a culture of innovation and creativity as a way to assert
our nationâs leadership and our communityâs happiness.”
“The most important message of the new domain name is
the focus on people. It is a message from the UAE leadership that you are the
goal, you are the purpose, you are the bet, you are the government, and you are
the United Arab Emirates. We enter the digital age through the u.ae portal, to
tell the world that the people are the ultimate goal of the UAE Government. The
people in the broad sense of participation, tolerance, peace, prosperity,
happiness, wellbeing, and sustainable development. The “u.ae” mission
is that we are all our partners in future making. “
The informative side of the portal includes facts and
figures on the UAE Government organisational structure, the Founding Fathers,
the UAE strategies and initiatives, and development goals and plans. The portal
also includes an e-participation platform that contains an online forum, blogs,
surveys, polls, Chatbot, and links to the mGovernment pages on social medial
such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others.
In the latest Domain Pulse Q&A, we talk to Karn Jajoo, Head of Premium Portfolio at Radix, the registry behind successful new domain extensions such as .TECH, .STORE, .ONLINE, .SPACE and .SITE. Radix is one of the worldâs largest nTLD portfolio registries with over 4M domains under management.
Jajoo discusses Radixâs impressive growth in 2018, the positive impact of the EUâs GDPR has been itâs spawned privacy discussions in developing countries with local data privacy laws, how registries should be deploying a long-term strategy now and keep away from the practice of trying to sell as many names as possible and instead focus on sustainable growth and usage and that the wider industry is developing products to support. Not unsurprisingly, Jajoo is excited about the prospects for the new generic top-level domains.
Domain
Pulse: What were the highlights, lowlights and challenges of 2018 in the domain
name industry for you?
Karn Jajoo: 2018 was a great year for new domains with some solid
premium sales across top nTLDs, and two premium name sales over $500,000 that
have set a new benchmark. Good meaningful names in suitable extensions will
continue to find end users willing to pay a premium price.
Many globally popular brands warmed up to using new
domains with the industry experiencing increasing adoption across different
verticals globally.
There was also a 25% YoY growth in overall new domain registrations from registrars outside China; in fact, there were a total of 10 million registrations in 2018 vs 8 million in 2017. Specifically for us, it was a great year as Radix grossed $16.95M in total revenue in 2018, a 30% rise over its revenue in 2017. Radixâs net profit also grew by 45.6% in comparison to last year.
One of the biggest challenges for the new domains industry still remains to be the mindset within the domain industry. While there has been a gradual but definite shift in the perception of nTLDs within the domain industry, I think for many folks, an inherent conflict of interest leads to skepticism. Such biases need to be checked given the success of so many good nTLDs and plenty of use cases that continue to thrive.
DP: GDPR
â good, bad and/or indifferent to you and the wider industry and why?
KJ: Much like others within the domains industry as well
as other industries across the globe, the exercise to implement these changes
in processes was challenging, and often confusing. Although, I donât think we
could classify it as good or bad. Instead of a binary judgment, we should look
at it as a welcome change as far as the protection of private data is
concerned.
On one hand, the domain industry seems to have coped well
with the regulations that came into effect last year. On the other hand, DNS
security agencies and counter abuse efforts have suffered a setback with
redacted WHOIS information. The one positive effect of GDPR has been that data
privacy discussions have spawned in other developing nations leading to the
formation of local data privacy laws.
DP: What
are you looking forward to in 2019?
KJ: As Radix, we are looking forward to becoming the biggest nTLD operator globally, and at the current growth pace, that could happen soon! We are already the only nTLD portfolio registry that has two of its TLDs with over 1 million domain registrations each.
We are also excited about the increasing number of startups that are
investing in and using new gTLDs. Owing to the booming startup ecosystem
globally, we can expect a lot of room for growth in new gTLDs in 2019. Our
Startup League initiative now has 300+ startups that we are actively
supporting.
As top nTLDs get
more mainstream, their usage and acceptance would steadily increase, and so
will the value of premium domains on nTLDs. We expect to make some big-ticket
sales in 2019 and beyond.
DP: What
challenges and opportunities do you see for the year ahead?
KJ: Registries should be deploying a long-term strategy
now and keep away from the practice of trying to sell as many names as possible
and instead focus on sustainable growth and usage.
A big positive for this industry is that partners such as
domain marketplaces, brokerages, etc. are building more products and allocating
time and resources towards marketing and selling new TLDs. Site builder SaaS
platforms of all sizes are also starting to enhance their domains play and are
understanding the importance of domain names as the gateway to more sales of
their products.
DP: 2019
will mark 5 years since the first new gTLDs came online. How do you view them
now?
KJ: Most extensions have been active for 2-4 years now and there is adequate channel and customer feedback on various aspects such as market segmentation, geographies, pricing etc. There has been considerable consolidation in the industry and many extensions that shouldnât have existed in the first place are either declining in registrations or have ceased to exist, while meaningful extensions that offer customers genuine value have continued to grow.
Customer awareness and acceptance continues to be a challenge and an opportunity. We will continue to see a growing number of new domains spotted âin the wildâ. We have a high decibel digital marketing campaign targeting end consumers running through various media channels for our flagship generic TLD, .ONLINE. We did similar campaigns for .STORE and .TECH last year and we can see their impact on the business.
I
feel registries should be doing as much as possible to increase the pace of
building awareness by communicating their value proposition.
DP: Are
domain names as relevant now for consumers â business, government, and individuals
â as they have been in the past?
KJ: I think domain names are more relevant now than ever. Trust between social media and consumers was shaken many times in the last couple of years and businesses realise that they need to âown their propertyâ i.e. their touchpoint with their customers or followers. If they only rely and build upon the property of someone else, they will always risk losing control of that relationship. Such dependence on social media has impaired many businesses which relied heavily on them for revenue or growth of the community. A good domain is an investment into your own brand and thus the best names will continue seeing higher valuations and interest in the coming years.
If youâd like to participate in this Domain Pulse series with
industry figures, please contact David Goldstein at Domain Pulse by
email to david[at]goldsteinreport.com.
