The recent autonomous territory of Sint Maarten is about to take advantage of its .SX ccTLD and open up to registrations. The territory only gained its autonomy in October 2010 and hopes its ccTLD will be online in the very near future.
For more information on this upcoming ccTLD, see the news release below or openregistry.com.
OpenRegistry to operate the .SX country code Top Level Domain [news release]
At ICANNâs 40th meeting, OpenRegistry and SX Registry SA announce they have entered into an exclusive agreement with the government of the autonomous territory of Sint Maarten to manage and operate its .SX country code Top Level Domain (âccTLDâ).
âWhen our country became autonomous in October 2010, we knew an Internet country code Top Level Domain would play an essential part in our economy, both locally and internationally. Recently, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) attributed the âSXâ two-letter code to our country, which was the first step in putting us on the digital map. Having SX Registry managing our Internet domain will undoubtedly provide Internet users across the world with an unparalleled safe and robust technical environment within which they can securely interact and transact,â explains H.E. Franklyn Meyers, Minister of Telecommunication of Sint Maarten.
SX Registry SA is a joint-venture established by OpenRegistry and Mediafusion Inc to focus on the management aspects of the ccTLD. With the help of the government and its local Internet community the vehicle will immediately submit a request to ICANN to obtain delegation of the .SX ccTLD. OpenRegistry will then manage the technical infrastructure of the Top Level Domain.
âAll members of our team have a ccTLD backgroundâ comments Jean-Christophe Vignes, CEO of OpenRegistry. âHelping a newly formed country to expand its presence on the Internet is both an extraordinary opportunity and an honour for all of us. In cooperation with the government of Sint Maarten, we will help develop innovative domain name registration policies. These policies allow us to create a completely open but secure Internet extension in which anyone can register while preserving the rights of third parties and ensuring the extension is not misused.â
OpenRegistry has already appointed the ClearingHouse for Intellectual Property (CHIP â www.ipclearinghouse.org) to ensure a safe and secure start-up of the .SX TLD.
âMany domain name registrars and registrants have already expressed an interest in the extension and OpenRegistryâs systemsâ comments Normand Fortier, CEO of SX Registry SA âFor additional security, the .SX TLD will implement from the start the DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC), which will make it the first Internet extensions to provide for the highest secure environment as from day oneâ.
While the Internet industry is currently awaiting the new âgeneric Top Level Domainsâ, a country code TLD such as .SX isnât subject to the same rules or timelines.
âWe would like to see .SX on the Internet as soon as possible,â insists Minister Meyers.
âSint Maartenâs businesses and visitors would immediately benefit from using the countryâs identity on the Internet. By relying on the combined expertise of OpenRegistry and its partners, the continuity of the .SX TLD will be ensuredâ.
Registry policies and accreditation procedures for registrars will be announced in the coming weeks.