Tag: .KIWI

CIRA Adds .SX To The TLDs It Provides Registry Services For

Canadian Internet Registration Authority CIRA logoCanada’s ccTLD registry, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), has now added .sx (Sint Maarten) to its Fury Registry Platform. CIRA has been on a bit of a “acquisition” role recently with this week’s adding to a number of similar recent announcements

Canadian Internet Registration Authority CIRA logoCanada’s ccTLD registry, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), has now added .sx (Sint Maarten) to its Fury Registry Platform. CIRA has been on a bit of a “acquisition” role recently with this week’s adding to a number of similar recent announcements.

Wednesday’s announcement says SX Registry SA, who operates the .SX country code top level domain on behalf of the Sint Maarten government, is now running on CIRA’s Fury Registry Platform.

“While we chose the Fury platform due to its advanced features and stability, what truly amazed me was how seamless the migration was,” said Normand Fortier, CEO, SX Registry SA. “As a business person and especially as a registry, I cannot afford downtime, and the CIRA transition team exceeded my most optimistic expectations.”

CIRA describes their Fury Registry Platform as a next-generation TLD management platform with features and functionality designed for the modern TLD business. Fury features a modern interface with role-based access to key registry functions that provide flexibility in pricing, promotion, and domain management to help operators run their business and grow their registry.

Another of the benefits that CIRA touts is Fury’s tags feature—an industry first—enables operators to apply advanced business rules to individual domains or domain groupings to make adjustments to pricing and promotions in real-time.

The migration to Fury took less than 30 days, and was executed seamlessly by the CIRA transition team. Another to have migrated to Fury was .KIWI who adopted the platform last year.

“We developed the Fury Registry Services Platform with the flexibility and agility to manage any modern TLD business,” said Dave Chiswell, Vice President of Product Development, CIRA. “The TLD market is rapidly evolving, and accompanied by the support of CIRA, the FURY platform provides operators with a set of next-generation tools to compete and win.”

The consolidation of registry services is a bit of a global trend as registry operators look for partners to provide services rather than provide bespoke services every time. CIRA has been aggressive in seeking partners and in late October announced Uniregistry and SIDN had signed on to receive CIRA’s D-Zone DNS services for their TLDs. These announcements have followed announcements in February of 2 other joint ventures with the New Zealand and Portuguese ccTLD registries, InternetNZ and Associação DNS.PT, to deliver Anycast DNS services.

Domain Pulse has previously reported of SIDN who manages the .nl (Netherlands) ccTLD with more than 5.7 million domains under management, has itself been branching into other services. Speaking at the Domain Pulse conference in Vienna in February SIDN’s Michiel Henneke said the registry has been experimenting with opportunities in similar areas.

“DNS is required for e-billing so SIDN became a co-creator of a DNS billing service in the Netherlands, but there are few other markets that are as attractive when it comes to revenue as domain names and the e-billing service is just a small part of revenue. We’ve also taken over an e-identity company with 12 million users, so we believe this will be a significant contributor to future revenue.”

.KIWI Gives 200,000 Domains To Umbrellar In Bid To Prevent Cybersquatting

A joint venture between New Zealand’s largest domain name and web hosting company Umbrellar and the Dot Kiwi registry will see 200,000 domains put on hold for a year, protecting them from abuse, and giving their potential registrants time to develop their domain strategy. And for .kiwi, to register their domain

A joint venture between New Zealand’s largest domain name and web hosting company Umbrellar and the Dot Kiwi registry will see 200,000 domains put on hold for a year, protecting them from abuse, and giving their potential registrants time to develop their domain strategy. And for .kiwi, to register their domain.

dotKiwi logoThe plan is to help thwart potential phishing attacks and unwanted cyber-squatting in the new generic Top Level Domain. There are currently 202,000 .kiwi domain names registered, however in mid-November there were 10,600 registrations, presumably before the transfer took place.

The 75,000 people and entities that own 200,000 domain names with Umbrellar, will have the equivalent .kiwi domain put on hold for a year while they decide if protecting .kiwi fits in with their overall domain name strategy.

Brendan Wilde, Marketing Manager at Umbrellar, says that globally, cyber security breaches and domain squatting are on the rise, and in general New Zealanders are too relaxed about taking steps to protect themselves.

“We saw a risk for our customers and approached Dot Kiwi to see how we could help protect them. This deal gives our customers some breathing space, allowing them to decide whether or not they want to purchase the .kiwi domain. As a result, no one else can come along and purchase this version over the next year.

“We’ve got more than 200,000 domains that we manage and the reality is that most of their owners haven’t stopped to think about what else they need to do to protect their space online. For a lot of them protecting the .kiwi version is a wise decision,” says Mr Wilde.

To overcome ever-increasing breaches, including phishing scams, which are attempts by scammers to trick you into giving out personal information including usernames, password, and/or money, and cybersquatting, which is the practice of registering domains in the hope of reselling at a profit, New Zealanders need to consider the implications of not protecting themselves online.

Angus Richardson, Managing Director of Dot Kiwi, says after the introduction of hundreds of new domain names in the last three years, businesses and individuals need to change their thinking about domains and be aware of the potential risks like that from spear phishing, which uses information from a company’s website or social media to replicate their content and design.

“Recent research in New Zealand shows one in ten Kiwis are likely to fall for scam emails. Globally, spear-phishing directed toward company employees increased by 55% last year. So the risks are very real.

“Businesses aren’t going to own every iteration of their URL and email address, there are just too many options available. But they need to think about which ones resonate with their customers, and stakeholders. All it takes is for one scam email to be sent to your customers from a domain matching your brand, and the reputational damage could be substantial.

“Umbrellar’s initiative will give a large number of New Zealand domain owners time to assess their needs, and overall domain strategy. Most importantly, with instances of phishing and spear-phishing on the rise, it also offers them some protection for the next 12 months,” says Mr Richardson.

Dot Kiwi Celebrates First Anniversary

dotKiwi logo[news release] After a year of significant changes to New Zealand’s domain landscape, Dot Kiwi has announced that it has sold more than 12,000 .kiwi domain names during its first year of operation.

dotKiwi logo[news release] After a year of significant changes to New Zealand’s domain landscape, Dot Kiwi has announced that it has sold more than 12,000 .kiwi domain names during its first year of operation.

Since 1 May 2014, individuals, bloggers, non-profit organisations and companies have bought .kiwi domain names as a new way to represent themselves online via personalised website and email addresses.

.kiwi is the only New Zealand-based generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) approved by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) as part of its new domain programme. The programme will usher in more than 1,400 new domains such as .cafe, .organic and .london.

Angus Richardson, Managing Director of Dot Kiwi, says in the last year the New Zealand Internet community has gone through a lot of change with the launch of its own gTLD, .kiwi, and changes to .co.nz.

“The new generation of domain names is still in its infancy, but is undergoing rapid growth. Gone are the days where Kiwis have to use .com or .net, now they can choose from a plethora of new domain names to better describe themselves or their organisation.

“.kiwi sales put it ahead of most of the new domains around the world. We’re in the top 25 per cent of the new gTLDs globally for sales volumes, showing New Zealanders have definitely come on board to try new domain name options,” says Richardson.

Some of the organisations using .kiwi domain names include Kiwibank (www.inner.kiwi), the Vodafone Warriors (www.warriors.kiwi) and the New Zealand Winter Games (wintergamesnz.kiwi). New Zealand comedian, Dai Henwood, and Kiwi triathlon legend, Bevan Docherty have also registered .kiwi domain names – using dai.kiwi and docherty.kiwi, respectively.

“One thing that’s great to see is there’s been a healthy proportion of people using their .kiwi domains for new websites or email.

“It was also positive to see registrations of the new .nz start to emerge since .kiwi launched last year. Australia is now considering allowing people to purchase .au rather than .com.au. It shows that New Zealand is leading the way internationally,” says Richardson.

.kiwi was one of the first domain names created to connect people’s online identity with both their geographical and cultural identity. Since .kiwi’s launch, ICANN has also approved domains specifically for Londoners, New Yorkers, Parisians and Berliners.

About Dot Kiwi:
Dot Kiwi launched a completely new option to the market for customers wishing to be associated with New Zealand on the Internet. .kiwi domain names provide New Zealand organisations and individuals greater choice, branding creativity and the opportunity to differentiate themselves from competitors. The .nz domain communicates where a person or their business is geographically, but .kiwi tells them what kind of person or entity they are, no matter where in the world they may be.

Minds + Machines Optimistic With Reserves of $48m

Minds + Machines logoMinds + Machines has a hand in 20 uncontested gTLDs, 13 of which have launched to date, as well as five geographical gTLDs, is partnering on a further four uncontested gTLDs one of which has launched and is the back end registry service provider for a further five clients of which two have launched. These are some of the highlights of an update the group provided on its portfolio of new gTLDs aimed at shareholders

Minds + Machines logoMinds + Machines has a hand in 20 uncontested gTLDs, 13 of which have launched to date, as well as five geographical gTLDs, is partnering on a further four uncontested gTLDs one of which has launched and is the back end registry service provider for a further five clients of which two have launched. These are some of the highlights of an update the group provided on its portfolio of new gTLDs aimed at shareholders.

Of the 20 gTLDs it wholly owns, the 13 to have launched account for 46,501 registrations at the time they compiled the update. The largest of these is .work with 20,605 registrations, while no other has topped the 10,000 registrations mark.

But the most successful of its gTLDs has been .london which has 62,143 registrations while .bayern has 29,351 and its only other geo gTLD to have launched to date, which Knipp is the back end provider, .nrw has 7,701.

It also has a hand in one other gTLD with over 10,000 registrations – .kiwi – which has 11,406.

Since 1 January 2015, the Minds + Machines’s portfolio has achieved over 63,000 registrations.

Looking to the future, the Directors anticipate contested domains should mainly be resolved through the private auction process before the end of Q3 2015. Those that are not resolved through the private auction process are likely to go to an ICANN auction of last resort where ICANN retains the winning bidder’s funds rather than those funds being divided amongst the competing bidders. Currently, cash reserves stand at $48 million.

It is also anticipated registration revenues should build significantly in the second half of the current financial year as a result of: planned domain launches in that period, including .law and .abogado, domain name renewals and the impact of its Premium Name activity currently being developed.

“We believe the Group is strongly positioned to compete in the remaining auction rounds,” said Antony Van Couvering, CEO of Minds + Machines. “We are likewise encouraged by the Group’s ability to have grown its cash reserves since 31 December whilst completing seven top-level domain launches during that period. Our focus is now on the successful commercialisation of those domains already launched and the phased launch programme for our remaining domains to maximise the penetration of each in their given markets.”

For more details see investors.mindsandmachines.com/2015/04/gtld-portfolio-update-2/.

ICANN: Introduction of Two-Character Domain Names for .JETZT, .GLOBAL, .NEUSTAR, .KIWI & .BERLIN

ICANN new generic Top Level Domains logoPurpose (Brief): Five (5) Registry Services Evaluation Process (RSEP) requests were submitted by the registry operators listed below to allow the introduction of two-character domain names for the below TLDs. In total, the requests concern 5 New gTLDs

ICANN new generic Top Level Domains logoPurpose (Brief): Five (5) Registry Services Evaluation Process (RSEP) requests were submitted by the registry operators listed below to allow the introduction of two-character domain names for the below TLDs. In total, the requests concern 5 New gTLDs.

Proposal TLD Registry Name Documents
2014052 berlin dotBERLIN GmbH & Co. KG dotBERLIN GmbH & Co. KG Request 1 September 2014 [PDF, 17 KB]
2014051 kiwi DOT KIWI LIMITED DOT KIWI LIMITED Request 27 August 2014 [PDF, 16 KB]
2014050 global Dot Global Domain Registry Limited Dot Global Domain Registry Limited Request 22 August 2014 [PDF, 16 KB]
2014049 neustar NeuStar, Inc. NeuStar, Inc. Request 21 August 2014 [PDF, 19 KB]
2014046 jetzt New TLD Company AB New TLD Company AB Request 6 August 2014 [PDF, 14 KB]

As part of these requests, each registry operator described which two-character domain names for which it would offer these registrations. These RSEP requests were posted for public information on the Registry Service Evaluation Process webpage, available at https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/rsep-2014-02-19-en.

As required by the Registry Services Evaluation Policy, ICANN has undertaken a preliminary determination on whether the proposals might raise significant competition, security or stability issues. ICANN‘s preliminary review (based on the information provided) did not identify any such issues for these requests.

Implementation of the proposal would require amendments to the Exhibit A, Approved Services of the respective Registry Agreements, which are being posted for public comment.

Public Comment Box Link: https://www.icann.org/public-comments/two-char-new-gtld-2014-09-12-en

This ICANN announcement was sourced from:
https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2014-09-12-en

.KIWI And .BERLIN Commence Registrations On 18 March

dotKiwi logoIf you live in Berlin or New Zealand you have a choice of a .berlin or .kiwi domain as of 18 March

dotKiwi logoIf you live in Berlin or New Zealand you have a choice of a .berlin or .kiwi domain as of 18 March.

For Berliners, the General Availability commenced for .berlin through leading registrars, while a Landrush phase for .kiwi domains commenced allowing New Zealanders to register their very own.

The .berlin gTLD is likely to be one of the more successful of the city TLDs, in part due to there being well over 15 million .de (Germany) domain names, making it a relatively crowded domain name space.

In New Zealand, approximately one thousand domains were sold during the pre-registration period for trademark holders and through early reservation programmes. These domain names are starting to go live and include brands such as www.lotto.kiwi, through to sports celebrities like Bevan Docherty’s www.docherty.kiwi.DotBERLIN banner image

Dot Kiwi research indicates there is significant demand and excitement about the .kiwi domain name. To date Dot Kiwi has received registrations of interest for 3,000 domains, not including the number of pre-registrations domain name resellers around the globe have received.

To ensure that all New Zealanders have a fair opportunity to purchase the domain name they want, Dot Kiwi is not operating on a first-come, first-served basis for its initial public launch phase.

The Landrush Period runs until the 30th of April, during this time Dot Kiwi will be taking applications for .kiwi domain names. Domain names with only one applicant will be immediately registered on the 1st of May. If there are multiple applications for the same domain name all parties will be invited to bid for the domain name in an online auction.

.KIWI Sunrise Commences With NZ Rugby League Kicking Off Early

dotKiwi logoThe Sunrise period for .kiwi domains has opened, but don’t expect a rush of registrants given to take advantage of the Sunrise period one has to have registered their trademark in the Trademark Clearinghouse

dotKiwi logoThe Sunrise period for .kiwi domains has opened, but don’t expect a rush of registrants given to take advantage of the Sunrise period one has to have registered their trademark in the Trademark Clearinghouse.

The Sunrise period ends on 17 March. Domains with only one application will be immediately allocated the domain, but where there is more than applicant, an auction will take place. And in mid-March the public will be able to register .kiwi domains.

One organisation registering a .kiwi domain name during Sunrise is the New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL). The NZRL have been proactive about registering their trademark with the TMCH, leaving them free to register a .kiwi domain name during Sunrise.

For more information, see the news release below:

Trademark holders have a month to get first dibs on .kiwi domain names
After more than two years of planning, Dot Kiwi Ltd. (Dot Kiwi) has opened up its exclusive registration period for trademark holders, known as the Sunrise period, today.

Trademark holders have until March 17 to secure their trademark as a .kiwi domain name. Following this date Dot Kiwi will review the applications, and for domain names with only one valid applicant Dot Kiwi will immediately register the domain name. If there are multiple trademark holding applicants for the same domain name, all parties will be invited to bid for the domain name.

.kiwi is one of the hundreds of new domain names, known as generic top level domain names (gTLDs), launching online. In mid-March .kiwi will become one of the first in the world to officially launch to the public, meaning all New Zealanders will be able to register .kiwi domain names and immediately activate them.

Tim Johnson, CEO of Dot Kiwi, says individuals and businesses are getting excited to activate .kiwi domain names in the coming months and the Sunrise period is designed specifically to protect the rights of trademark holders.

“We know New Zealand businesses around the globe have been waiting to purchase .kiwi domain names, which means in some instances more than one trademark holder might exist for a certain name. The Sunrise period gives everyone a level playing field to make sure they can get the domain names they want,” says Johnson.

To qualify for the Sunrise period, companies need to register their trademark with the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH), an international entity created by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to protect the rights of trademark holders during and after the launch of new domain names such as .kiwi.

One organisation registering a .kiwi domain name during Sunrise is the New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL). The NZRL have been proactive about registering their trademark with the TMCH, leaving them free to register a .kiwi domain name during Sunrise.

Sarah Lewis, General Manager – Commercial of the New Zealand Rugby League, says “A .kiwi domain names is a great fit for our organisation. It helps us express who we are as an organisation and it connects to our national identity. It says much more about our organisation than our existing domain names.

“We’re in the process of developing our strategy for how we’re going to make the most out of the .kiwi domain name, but the first step for us was taking advantage of the Sunrise period,” says Lewis.

Robert Rolls, Commercial and Finance Director of Digiweb, welcomes the introduction of further choice for businesses and consumers in New Zealand and globally with the launch of this exciting new domain name.

“The Sunrise period is a critical phase for trademark owners to head off any potential cybersquatting risk when .kiwi domains become more widely available during the General Availability phase,” says Rolls.

For trademark holders wanting to take advantage of the Sunrise period they should visit https://dot-kiwi.com/sunrise or www.trademark-clearinghouse.com.

Information for trademark holders:
1.    All trademark holder have until the 17th of March 2014 to register their trademark as a .kiwi domain name before sales to the general public begin
2.    In order to register before the general public can, trademark holders need to register their trademark with the Trademark Clearinghouse
3.    Visit www.dot-kiwi.com/sunrise to find out how to register with the Trademark Clearinghouse – it’s quick and easy
4.    For domain names with only one applicant, after the 17th of March 2014 Dot Kiwi will immediately register the domain name
5.    If there are multiple trademark holding applicants for the same domain name, all parties will be invited to bid for it after the 17th of March 2014.

About the Trademark Clearinghouse:
The Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) is a centralised database of verified trademarks created to protect intellectual property rights during, and after the launch, of new generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) to the global marketplace. To register a trademark with the TMCH trademark holders should visit https://dot-kiwi.com/sunrise or www.trademark-clearinghouse.com.

About Dot Kiwi:
Dot Kiwi will bring a completely new option to the market for customers wishing to be associated with New Zealand on the Internet, or via their email address. The .kiwi domain will offer New Zealand organisations and individuals greater choice, branding creativity and the opportunity to differentiate themselves from competitors, providing them an exciting way of proclaiming their identity online
Dot Kiwi is the brainchild of a group of ex-pat New Zealanders living in Vancouver, Canada and is a registered New Zealand company, led by seven highly experienced and reputable New Zealand-born directors, together with one Canadian with specialist ICT experience.

More information about Dot Kiwi can be found at www.dot-kiwi.com or via email to info@dot-kiwi.com.

More information about the ICANN gTLD programme can be found at its website: newgtlds.icann.org/en/.

About Digiweb Group:
Digiweb is a leading provider of Cloud Hosting, Domain Name Services and e-Commerce Payment services across New Zealand, Australia and wider Australasia via www.digiweb.co.nz and www.discountdomains.co.nz. For more information please refer to www.digiweb.co.nz/company-overview.

.KIWI Set To Be Fittest gTLD

.KIWI is setting out to be higher, faster and stronger than all other gTLDs with the gTLD operator, Dot Kiwi, announcing it is to sponsor the New Zealand Triathlon Series. The series will be called the .kiwi Tri Series and there will be six events throughout New Zealand during summer.

.KIWI is setting out to be higher, faster and stronger than all other gTLDs with the gTLD operator, Dot Kiwi, announcing it is to sponsor the New Zealand Triathlon Series. The series will be called the .kiwi Tri Series and there will be six events throughout New Zealand during summer.”I am delighted that the sport of Triathlon has attracted such an innovative and pioneering product such as .kiwi,” said Tri NZ CEO Craig Waugh. “Triathlon began in NZ in 1984 and was driven by pioneering people who sought to push the boundaries from traditional sport. They were focused on trying something new and thus living on the edge.”Our sport is still unique and still evolving. Our ‘playground’ is the New Zealand landscape and the ‘players’ are the Kiwi families from 5 years of age through to the grandparents who are 80+. It is the family focus, the NZ landscape and sport for life focus that has attracted the interest of a like-minded pioneer in .kiwi and it is this partnership that will assist us in delivering on our goals and objectives over the next five years and beyond. This is a business relationship, not a sponsorship; one that I know will assist the future sustainability of the sport.”.kiwi is the first and only New Zealand-based generic top-level domain name approved by ICANN.The gTLD operator also released its premium names list that includes generic words and phrases that are easy to remember and people already search for online, such as www.movies.kiwi and www.bikes.kiwi.As could be expected in the rugby-mad nation, rugbyunion.kiwi and rugby.kiwi are both on the list. Rugby.kiwi has already been sold for NZ$5,866.71 while rugbyunion.kiwi can be yours for $1,200.It is expected most premium .kiwi domains will be bought by businesses because the name is memorable and matches popular online searches, meaning they can attract more online traffic more easily. However, we also know there will be some Kiwis who want to have a little fun and buy premium domain names for themselves.The value of a .kiwi premium name is determined using historical sales data, search engine popularity and traffic. The cost of premium names start at $500, with an annual renewal fee thereafter of approximately $40 a year. You can take a look at the premium names here – https://dot-kiwi.com/premiumnames?clearSearch”Being Kiwi sets us aside on the world stage, as individuals, in business, and in sport, says Tim Johnson, Dot Kiwi CEO.”We’re proud to partner with Tri NZ to deliver the .kiwi Tri Series. Triathlon has many synergies with the cultural identifier that .kiwi offers, from the stunning New Zealand landscapes where the events take place, to the family involvement, and Kiwis making their mark both at home and on the global stage.”