Go Daddy and Afilias have announced a joint venture aimed at taking over the management of the usTLD. This news release says they have created The Domain Name Alliance Registry (“Alliance Registryâ€). It’s a joint venture seeking to assume stewardship of the usTLD, America’s sovereign space on the Internet.
The news release goes to say Yesterday, Alliance Registry submitted a proposal in response to the request for quotations issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for a registry operator for the usTLD.
“Today, the usTLD ranks 9th among the world’s country code domains, despite America’s leadership of the Internet and the most robust domain growth market in history. Now is the time to change usTLD leadership and put it on a growth track,†said Roland LaPlante, Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer for Afilias (Listen now). Added Warren Adelman, Go Daddy’s President and Chief Operating Officer, “We believe Alliance Registry pools the strengths of its partners, Go Daddy and Afilias, to offer usTLD superior technology, enhanced marketing, and focused administration to improve this critical national resource.†(Listen now)
The bid submitted by Alliance Registry includes several key elements that would improve the .us domain registry, both in technological security and marketing tactics. Over the past 6 years, the .us domain has underperformed relative to its international competition and Alliance Registry has the resources and the capabilities to make major improvements. Some of these improvements include:
- Reduced pricing for usTLD registrations to make them more affordable and deliver greater value to the usTLD community
- Greater volume, growth, and usage of the usTLD stimulated by registry enhancements and marketing programs that have been proven to work by Alliance Registry’s joint owners
- Enhanced Locality space support to enable every city and town in America to have its own dedicated space within the usTLD (e.g. anytown.us)
- World class stability and security of the registry platform and DNS services supporting the domain
- Expanded administration services to facilitate oversight and provide better counsel for the DoC
- Enhancing kids.us so it becomes the feature-rich, safe online environment for America’s children it was envisioned to be.
In addition, the proposal outlines a proven plan to ensure a smooth transition, based on the experience of its partner Afilias in transitioning numerous top-level domains and with Go Daddy’s experience in ensuring harmless data transitions for consumers. DoC is expected to award the new contract by September, with the administrator taking full responsibility of the usTLD when the contract with the current provider expires on October 26, 2007.
During a news tele-conference earlier today, Brian Cute, Alliance Registry’s new Director of .us activities said, “This is an exciting opportunity for us to work closely with DoC to realize the full potential of the usTLD.†He continued, “We believe it’s time for a change, and Alliance Registry is uniquely positioned to take usTLD to its rightful position as a leading country code domain.â€
http://afilias.info/news/press_releases/pr_articles/2007-07-31-01
http://godaddy.com/gdshop/pressreleases/Alliance_Press_Release_7_31_07.pdf
http://dnalliance.us/archives/000032.htmlNews coverage of the announcement is below:
Neustar Losing .us Could Be Good for .com Registrants
Neustar is facing a potential loss of the Dot-US franchise as competitors bid against them. Why might this be of interest to .com registrants? … The issue of antitrust with regards to the .com agreement has never really been properly settled, as a well-funded complainant hasn’t brought forward a case to full fruition in the courts. ICANN sold out the public by agreeing to a settlement that would see its own coffers swell, at the expense of registrants, so they do not count.
http://www.circleid.com/posts/neustar_losing_us_domain_name/
Go Daddy allies to take over America
Afilias and Go Daddy want to together usurp NeuStar as the US government contractor responsible for the what they claim is the ‘neglected’ .us top-level internet domain. The two companies have formed a joint venture, The Domain Name Alliance Registry, and have applied to the US Department of Commerce to replace NeuStar as the custodian of .us.
http://cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=D6593B1B-19D4-4E3C-B5CA-E827E9465D77
http://news.techwhack.com/6233/godaddy.us-domains/
http://domainnamenews.com/editorial/godaddy-and-afilias-created-joint-venture-in-order-to-bid-for-us-tld/786
Companies seek control of ‘.us’ domain [AP]
In Britain, “.uk” is the suffix of choice for Internet addresses. In Germany, it’s “.de.” In the United States, however, “.us” is the forgotten stepchild. Web sites tend to prefer “.com,” which was designed as a global moniker for commercial sites but is heavily populated by Americans. Two companies prominent in the domain name industry want to challenge that notion.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/08/02/1185648006141.html
http://businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8QODT6G1.htm